PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



OONYENTION OF LOYAL LEAGUES 



HELD AT 



MECHANICS HALL, UTICA, 



TU1::SDAY, SG MAV, 1863. 



REPORTED FOR THE CONVENTION 



NEW YORK : 
WM. C. BRYANT *t CO., PRINTERS, 41 NASSAU ST., COR. LIBERTY. 

1863, 



PEOCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



CONVENTION OF LOYAL LEAGUES 



HELD AT 



/ 

' MECHANICS HALL, UTICA 








TUtSDAY, 26 OTAY, 1863. 



EETORTED FOR THE CONVENTION. 



NEW YORK : 
WM. C. BRYANT cfc CO., PRINTERS, 41 NASSAU ST., COR. LIBERTY. 

1863. 



CALL OF THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE. 



CONTENTION OF LOYAL LEAGUES. 



The Undersigned, in the name of the LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE, 
established in every County of the State of New York, and of other Loyal 
Leagues, respectfully invite Delegates from all similar organizations in the 
State to assemble in Convention, at Mechanics Hall, Utica, on the 
morning of Tuesday, the 26th May instant, at 11 o'clock, to perfect a 
State organization, and to consider plans for the furtherance of the objects 
stated in the following pledge : 

We pledge ourselves to unconditional loyalty to the Government of the United 
btates to unwavering support of its efforts to suppress the Rebellion, and to spare 
no endeavor to maintain unimpaired the National Unity, both in principle and 
territorial boundary. 

The primary object of this League is, and shall be, to bind together all Loyal 
Men, of all trades and professions, in a common Union, to maintain the power 
glory, and integrity of the Union, 

For their own part, and for the part of their associate Leagues, the un- 
dersigned distinctly state that the proceedings of the Convention shall be 
open and public, and no action shall be taken of a partisan character. The 
organizations thus far perfected have not been by political districts, but by 
local divisions, counties, and towns. 

In making this call, the undersigned beg to remind the loyal men of 
the State of the powerful influence which such an organization may exert 
m support of the Government and to the encouragement of loyal senti- 
ment. 

The Anti-corn-law League in a few years revolutionized the public 
opinion of England, and attained the object for which it was established. 



If such a result could be attained by an organization separate from party, 
on a question of political economy, what may not be expected of a Loyal 
National League, based on Loyalty to the Government of our Fathers, 
and a pledge to maintain unbroken the National Unity of this proud and 
prosperous country ? 

Each League is requested to send as many Delegates as convenient, and 
the Convention will decide on the mode of representation. 

The Ward Leagues of New York and Kings County are invited to 
co-operate. 

The Convention is expected to take part in the proceedings of the Mass 
Assemblage, on the 27th, called by the Loyal League of Union Citizens 



LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUES. 

New York, JAMES A. ROOSEVELT, Secretary. 
Brooklyn, Kings, E. B. SPOONER, Secretary. 
Livingston County, JAMES T. NORTON, Secretary. 
Wyoming County, W. H. MERRILL, Secretary. 
Dutchess County, CHARLES PLACE, Secretary. 
Clinton County, GEORGE L. CLARK. 

Third Election District, Suffolk, R. ALBERTSON, Secretary. 
Utica, Oneida, J. B. CUSHMAN. 
MiddletowD, Orange, M. D. STIVERS, Secretary. 
Eastchester, Westchester, EDMUND HOOLE, Secretary. 
Nunda, Livingston, GEO. M. OSGOODBY, Secretary. 
Geddes, Onondaga, MEADE BELDEN, Secretary. 
Clean, Cattaraugus, R. L. PAGE, Secretary. 
Southold, Suffolk, WM. H. PIKE, Secretary. 
East Bloomfield, Ontario, R. C. STILES, Secretary. 
Rhinebeck, Dutchess, FRANK T. VAN KEUREN, Secretary. 
Corning, Steuben, HORACE BARNES, President. 
Bath, Steuben, C. H. THOMSON. 
Hornellsville, Steuben, HORACE BEMIS. 
Stony Brook, EDWARD OAKES, Secretary, 
Owego, Tioga, T. G. STAGG, Secretary. 
Mexico, Oswego, A. F. KELLOGG, Secretary. 
Norwich, Chenango, GEORGE C. RICE, Secretary. 
Suspension Bridge, Niagara, W. H. WALLACE, Secretary. 
Dansville, Livingston, I. B. MOREY, Secretary. 
Springwater, Livingston, JOHN WILEY, Secretary. 
West Sparta, Livingston, OGDEN MARSH, Secretary. 
Watertown, Jefiferson, B. BROCK WAY. 
Albany, Albany, B. MILLARD, Secretary. 
Elmira, Chemung, JAMES T. DUDLEY, Secretary. 



•K 



Brutus, Cayuga, E. B. LATIMER, Secretary. 

Montour, Schuyler, O. M. OLAUIIARTy, Secretary. 

Marion, Wayne, S. B. DEA.N, Secretary. 

Hamilton, Madison, E. D. VAN SLYCK, Secretary, 

Hannibal, Oswego, W. W. SCRIBNER, Secretary. 

Cortland, Cortland, F. D. WRIGHT, Secretary. 

Alfred Centre, Allegany, A. C. SPICER, Secretary. 

Danby, Tompkins, THOS. J. PHILLIPS, Secretary. 

Ridge way, Orleans, GEO. L. PRATT, Secretary. 

Rose, Wayne, T. ROBINSON, Secretary. 

Sodus, Wayne, C. D. GAYLORD, Secretary. 

Elbridge, Onondaga, J. 0. WRIGHT, Secretary. 

Boston, Erie, B. A. CHURCHILL, Secretary. 

Coram, SufFolk, R. W. SMITH, Secretary. 

Big Flats, Chemung, J. E. FARR, Secretary. 

Newburgb, Orange, J. HALLOCK DRAKE, Secretary. 

Catharine, Schuyler, THOMAS COUCH, Secretary. 

Mount Morris, Livingston, J. A MEAD, Secretary. 

Yonkers, Westchester, FRANCIS N. BANGS, Secretar}-. 

Ellicottville, Cattaraugus, D. H. BOLLES, Secretary. 

Ithaca, Tompkins, AUSTIN N. HUNGERFORD, Secretary. 

Haverstraw, Rockland. SPENCER J. WEIANT, Secretary. 

New Rochelle, Westchester, CHARLES H. ROOSEVELT, President. 

Troy, Rensselaer, BRUCE MILLARD, Secretary. 

Goshen, Orange, DAVID D. OSMAN, Secretary. 

Portage, Livingston, CHARLES K. RANDALL, Secretary. 

Morris, Otsego, SILAS S. SEELY, Secretary. 

Nyack, Rockland, D. J. BLAUVELT, Secretary. 

Irvington, Westchester, J. J. BANTA, Secretary. 

Sandusky, Cattaraugus, R. M. JAMESON, Secretary. 

Pitcher, Chenango, W. R. CHANDLER, Secretary. 

Verona, Oneida, HARVEY S. BEDELL, Secretary. 



Sons of Washington Union League, Rochester, Monroe, JOHN C. CHUMASERO, 

President. 
Loyal League of Delhi, Delaware, NORWOOD BOWNE, Secretary. 
Union League of Broome County, W. W. ELLIOTT, Secretary. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. 



MORNING SESSION.— TEMPORARY ORGANIZATION. 



The main body of Mechanics Hall was nearly filled at the 
appointed hour on the morning of Tuesday, 26th May, with 
delegates and prominent men from various sections of the 
State, constituting as intelligent and earnest an assemblage 
as ever gathered in Convention in the Empire State. The 
Hall was appropriately and handsomely decorated with the 
Stars and Stripes, and mottoed banners brought in by the 
representatives of the Loyal Leagues. Over the center of the 
platform hung gracefully the starry folds, and above, the motto: 
" Sustain our brave soldiers." On the left : " A common 
union to maintain the power, glory, and integrity of the Nation.'' 
On the right was represented the American eagle on a shield, 
beaking a wriggling Copperhead. Suspended from the center 
of the dome was a prism of banners — one inscribed with the 
latter of the above mottoes. The second had : " No fire in the 
rear." The third, three sentiments, as follows : " No compro- 
mise with traitors" — " No neutrals in the war" — " The flag of 
our union shall float over Sumter." Other mottoes, in addition 
to repetitions of those we have mentioned, were these : " Pledged 
to unconditional loyalty" — " One flag, one country, one destiny." 
" Pledged to maintain the national unity." 

Previous to the commencement of business Major Sciiolefield 
introduced the " Drummer Boy of the Rappahannock," with a 
reference to the familiar history of his brave conduct at the 
first battle of Predericksburgh. The boy, Robert Henry Hen- 
dershot, was requested to come forward and favor the assemblage 



8 



with " tlie long roll." As he stepped forward with his beautiful 
drum he was greeted with prolonged applause, which was 
repeated at the end of his well -executed performance. 

CALL TO ORDEK. 

Mr. John Austin Stevens, Jr., of Now York, now came for- 
ward and said : 

I have been requested by the signers of the call which I 
hold in my hand — the reading of which you will excuse, all 
being familiar with it — who, in their seventy names, represent 
as many branches of the Loyal National League, to call his 
Convention to order, and I have the honor to nominate as 
temporary chairman Gen. John Cochkane of New York. I 
am sure that he will receive a hearty welcome. 

The nomination was instantly greeted with a spontaneous 
outburst of cheers ; and then the entire Convention rose, swung 
their hats, and repeated the cheers with the greatest heartiness 
and enthnsiasm. 

A Delegate — Put the question. 

Mr. Stevens — I think it is carried by acclamation. (Applause 
and laughter.) 

Another Delegate — I think the question had better be put 
as there is some doubt. (Laughter.) 

Mr. Stevens put the question, and the Convention responded 
with a roaring aye. Gen. Cochrane then took the platform and 
addressed the Convention as follows : 

» 

SPEECH OF HON. JOHN COCHRANE. 

Gentlemen of the Convention, — I welcome you. You have 
come from your employments and secular pursuits to devote a 
few hours to country. That country that lies bleeding and 
lacerated, you have assembled here to support and protect. 
You come from out the grasp of party politics. This martial 
strain that has greeted your ears is a portent of danger. It was 
the long roll, and sounded the alarm to the Northern caaip that 
the enemy was upon them. Andalthough you sit here, encouraged 
by the progress of our arms, yet, gathered by the great exigency 



of impending rebellion, and from out the cloud and gloom 
wliicb enshrouds us, you are to ask the efforts of manly arms 
to teach the enemy that tliere'is strength and vigor left to strike 
and strike home for our institutions. [Applause.] I will not 
ask, nor am I now here to inquire into the causes of this mon- 
strous crime; nor are you to ask for them except so far as they 
may enlighten you in the method of retrieving the error. But 
you are to consider of its magnitude, of its gigantic proportions, 
of its advance thus fiir, of the danger that there is in the future, 
of the method of encountering and overcoming it, and repress- 
ing the rebels in arms against the whole country. [x\pplause.] 
You have provided vast levies, you have waged monstrous war. 
The tread of gigantic armies is beard over this whole land, and 
wherever battles have been fought the blood of your sons and 
brothers and fathers has flown. But it has been no divided con- 
test. Arm by arm, and shoulder by shoulder, the boy and the 
man have advanced in serried line against the enemy ; and when 
they have fallen, they have fallen as the patriot falls — in behalf 
of his country, wept by his associate patriot, but never aban- 
doned, never deserted. In the lines of our army there is no 
lisp of division heard, no voice of dissension. And when the 
order comes, " forward !" it is with united front and with refer- 
ence to no previous political divisions that your soldiers advance 
to battle and victory. [Applause.] And what is the picture, 
here, citizens ? Is your force to be distracted by bickerings, 
divisions, dissensions, and strife ? Is the great army of the Union 
to be marshalled under the banner of Democrat, Republican, 
and Abolitionist? Was our independence in '70 achieved in 
thiswise? [Applause.] Or were our ancestors resolved into 
but two great parties — the party for the country and the party 
against the country ? Party is tiie bane of our country ; it is 
the poison of our effort ; and would you succeed, there must be 
none here, as there is none in the army at tlie front. It is the 
fire in the rear that intimidates the soldier. [Loud applause, 
and a voice — " Put them down in the rear."] And with an in- 
timidated and cowardly soldiery, you may well despair for the 
result and for the fate of the Pepublic. And who are they, or 
what is it that is to divide this people? Where is the line by 
which men are to be separated ? What is to be the line of party 



10 

factions ? Ho who refers to the past finds guidance for tke 
future ; and he cannot have rightly interpreted the lessons of 
the past who claims that party should be the banner-cry of 
freedom in the prosecution of a war for the defence of great 
political and national truths. Why, the party man is no more 
competent to the occasion which is now upon us than the child 
is competent to sustain the armor of the man. They who are en- 
thralled by such trammels, they who are entrenched behind 
such arguments, are but as the partisan who, in his pursuit of 
emolument, plunder, and gain, looks to the organization and 
machinery of party for personal advantages, though it leads the 
country into ruin. [Applause.] Let party, therefore, disappear, 
let its traces be effaced, and let us, as true, loyal men, with the 
interests of our country at heart — let each one of us here go to 
the work set before us of organizing loyalty, and disciplining 
patriotism, fulminating their reason and arguments, with the 
force of lightning from Heaven, over this broad land, 
stamping with derision and contempt the miserable and paltry 
servitude of party and party-men. [Applause.] ISTor are 
we here simply, gentlemen, to exhume arguments to show 
that this war is a work of subjugation. It is a work of 
defense. We of the North are not the aggressors. "We stand 
in defense of the Constitution and our institutions. iNor can it 
in any degree be considered a war for the continuance or 
for the extirpation of slavery. Our purpose is merely 
and purely the suppression of this rebellion. [Applause.] 
" Ah I but," I am answered by a certain objector, " you 
intend to subjugate the South ; how else can our army prove 
successful 1 You intend not to extirpate slavery ; how else 
can you end this war ?" My answer to these propositions sim- 
ply is : We shall accomplish all when we shall have saved our 
country. [Prolonged applause.] And let me ask, when this 
rebellion shall have been repressed, where then, think you, will 
stand the proud armies that have occupied the battle-field ? In 
a sense there must be subjugation. Without subjugation and 
destruction of opposition, there can be no triumph, no victory. 
With reference to what moral philosophers and social humani- 
tarians may consider, in this wise or in that wise, I have but to 
say : After the success of our armies and the restoration of the 



11 

Union, " Let the dead bury the dead." As the car of !N"orthern 
freedom, gentlemen, makes its way over this continent, all ob- 
stacles must disappear before it. [Applause.] We protest 
against the disintegration of freedom. We oppose the advances 
and encroachments of tyranny, in whatever form it presents it- 
self. [Applause.] We stand here as the custodians and advo- 
cates and champions of a great Christian civilization ; [ap- 
plause,] and we swear before high Heaven that with that charge 
in care we will never, never prove false to the trust. [Applause.] 
That civilization consists merely iu the perpetuity of our insti- 
tutions ; in the integrity of our Constitution, which has so long 
subserved the great interests of the human race upon this con- 
tinent. It consists in the gradual expansion and dilation of 
every principle which is impressed upon its immortal pages. 
Whether that shall be accomplished by the success of a portion 
of our army on tliis battle-field, or whether it shall be tempor- 
arily arrested by reverses upon that, I tell you that the great 
wave still advances ; and the not distant future will see all these 
smiling plains and rolling hills covered with a population that 
shall show the sternness, the integrity, and the progress of our 
JSTorthern institutions. [Applause.] Fear not, therefore, for 
any incidental purpose. We are to be diverted by no collateral 
issue, but we are to have our eyes firmly fixed upon a single 
object, and that object the rescue of our country and the restor- 
ation of our Union, and then we will march forward without 
clamor or discussion, bravely to teach the world that we, as de- 
scendants of worthy ancestors, will do no discredit to the fathers 
of '76. [Applause.] The liberty which was theirs for their 
achievements, shall by our faithfulness be perpetuated. The 
principles which moved them shall and do sustain us. There 
will be dissensions. There will be divisions and strife — there 
must be, while human nature remains as it is — but as long as the 
immutable principles of right prevail, so long shall the influence 
of that flag of the Republic wrap the world around as a phys- 
ical atmosphere, and compel men to inhale it at every breath. 
So we are for no destructive parties, but for conservatism ; and 
if the war to-morrow could cease by the restoration of our 
Union, our sufi'rage would be for peace. It is therefore, gentle- 
men, clear and distinct that the people of this land, without 



12 

distinction of party, are united hand in hand in this contest for 
the restoration of the Union, and for the preservation of its con- 
stitntion and territorial integrity. So, gentlemen, I am ghad to 
meet you here this day, I shall take my seat among you with 
pleasure, and with a gratefal heart, that it has been permitted 
me to participate in councils so important and momentous. I 
can fancy here indications of no circumscribed restrictions. I 
can conceive that there shall be nothing.here which shall be 
directed toward individual aggrandizement or sectional aims* 
With a Democrat merely attached to his former party, and as 
such in hostility to the salvation or interests of his country, I 
would not take my seat here. [Applause.] With "a Republi- 
can, adiiering to his former taste, habits, and associations mere- 
ly,! would not take my seat here, [Applause,] I would equal- 
ly refuse and reject association and propinquity with the Aboli- 
tionist, who seeks uow only to strike for the gratification of his 
peculiar tastes. We know no Abolitionist, no Republican, no 
Democrat, [applause,] and no party lines ; and that exclama- 
tion of the patriotic and lamented Clay, in my judgment, best 
illustrates our spirit : " We know no North, no South, no East, 
no West." [Applause.] Let that be your advancing cry. Let 
that, gentlemen, animate us and prevail over this broad land, 
that we may use all our efforts to redeem it from the aggressions 
of rebels. Let us act in conjunction with all — with those alike 
who are born and bred upon the soil, and those who, forsaking 
their own land, have chosen this as the asylum of their liberty, 
and the method and manner by which, and through which, to 
redress their wrongs. [Applause,] You will now, gentlemen, 
have nominated to you the remainder of the temporary officers 
of the meeting, which, having been accepted at your hand-, wo 
shall proceed to the regular business of the Convention. 

On motion of John Austin Stevens, Jr., James Terwillager, 
of Onondaga, and E. IST. Crosby, of Dutchess, were chosen tenx- 
porary Secretaries. 

After several motions for the appointment of committees had 
been made and withdrawn, the Chair, at the suggestion of Mr. 
J. A. Millard, requested the secretaries to call the roll of conn- 
ties, in order that the credentials of delegates might be pre- 
sented. . 



13 

This was accordingly done, and the Chair announced that 
nearly every county in the State had sent delegates, and that 
consequently the whole State was represented. [Applause.] 

Mr. J. A. Millard, of Rensselaer, moved the appointment of 
a. committee upon credentials and basis of representation. He 
did not suppose that there would be any contest upon the ques- 
tion of delegates to this body, but there might be some upon 
the question of representation. He therefore moved that a 
committee on credentials and ratio of representation, be ap- 
pointed. 

The following committee was selected : 

COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS. 

1st. John Austin Stevens, Jr., of JSTew York. 

2d. Benson J. Lossing, of Poughkeepsie. 

3d. John A. Millard, of Rensselaer. 

4th. R. M. Little, of Warren. 

5th. Beman Brockway, of Jefferson. 

6th. John J. Rathbun, of Chemung. 

Yth. Isaac L. Endress, of Livingston. 

8th. J. IST. Larned, of Erie. 

Robert B. Roosevelt, of Kew York, moved that a committee 
of two from each judical district, be appointed by the Chair, to 
report officers for the permanent organization of the Con- 
vention. Agreed to, and the following gentlemen were ap- 
pointed : 

committee on permanent OEGANIZxlTON. 

1st. Robert B. Roosevelt and Sinclair Tousey, of New 
York. 

2d. G. C. Burnap, Dutchess; Charles H. Roosevelt, West- 
chester. 

3d. B. Millard, xVlbany ; W. J. Groo, Sullivan. 

4th. James M. Dudley, Fulton ; George Robinson, St. Law- 
rence. 

5th. Frank Hiscock, Onondaga ; A. H. Laflin, Herkimer. 

6th. J. H. Selkreg, Tompkins ; Cornelius A. Church, Ot- 
sego. 



14 

7th. Thomas Robinson, Wayne ; George "W. Eawson, Mon- 
roe. 

8th. E. G. Spaulding, Erie ; John Yan Horn, Niagara. 

On motion of Mr. John A. Millard, Eenselaer, the following 
committee on resolutions, and an address, was appointed : 

COMSirXTEE ON ADDRESS AND RESOLUTIONS. 

First District — John Jay, R. B. Roosevelt, New York. 

Second District — George "Wilkinson, Dutchess; Alexander 
Davidson, Rockland. 

Third District — Thomas B. Carroll, Rensselaer ; Joel Tiffany, 
Albany. 

Fourth District — John F. Havens, St. Lawrence ; Waldo M. 
Potter, Saratoga. 

Fifth District — Hon. Roscoe Conkling, Oneida ; Hon. James 
A. Bell, Jefferson. 

Sixth District — Alvin Lawrence, Schuyler ; Peter B. Rath- 
bone, Chenango. 

Seventh District — Hon. W. H. Kelsey, Livingston ; Charles 
A. Thomson, Steuben. 

Eighth District— Havrj Wilbur, Genesee ; Dan. H. Cole, 
Orleans. 

On motion of Mr. John A. Millard, of Renselaer, the rules 
of the Assembly, so far as they could apply, were adopted as the 
rules of this Convention. 

On motion of Hon. Roscoe Conkling, the Convention took a 
recess until 2 P. M. 



Afternoon Session. 

The chair announced, at the opening of the session, at half 
past two, that all the counties in the State were represented, 
except Essex and Washington. [Applause.] 

Mr. J. A. Millard, from the committee on credentials, re- 
ported that there were no contested seats. [Applause.] He 



15 

was equally gratified to report that there was no question of 
regularity. Tlierefore, upon those two questions he reported 
that all the delagates presenting credentials should be admitted 
to seatsin this Convention. [Applause.] The committee had also 
taken into consideration the question of representation, and 
would report that the delagates to this Convention have an 
equal representation, and every one should be permitted to 
YoiQ, per capita. One source of difficulty the committee had 
had, which it was completely impossible to surmount, and that 
was, the preparation of the list of delagates. It was utterly 
impossible to arrange the two thousand names of delegates un- 
less the Convention adjourned until night. They reported 
therefore all .the names, and suggested that the secretaries 
should make out the list at their leisure. He, therefore, moved 
that the secretaries be directed to make out a list for publica- 
tion in the city papers. 

After some discussion as to whether the papers would publish 
so long a list, the i*eport was adopted with an amendment that 
the loyal papers be requested to publish the list of delegates. 

The discussion as to the best means of procuring a list of dele- 
gates present was then renewed, and participated in by Ira D. 
Brown, of Oswego, Mr. Brockvvay, of Jefferson, and others. 

Ira D. Brown, of Oswego, moved that the roll of delegates 
be called by counties, and their names recorded by the secre- 
taries, but, after discussion, withdrew his resolution. 

Mr, Brockway moved for the appointment of a committee of 
three to report a digest of the names of delegates present, for 
publication in the morning papers. 

Mr. Brockway's motion was adopted, and Messrs. "Wilder, of 
New York, Hicks, of Livingston, and Brockway, of Jefferson, 
were appointed as such committee.* 

REPORT OF COMISIITTEE ON PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 

RoBT. B. EoosEVELT, Esq., of New York, reported from the 
Committee on Permanent Organization, nominating Gen. John 
Cochrane as permanent chairman, and the nomination was 

*The List of Delegates compiled by the Committee may be found at the close of 
the Report — folio 61. 



16 

adopted with applause. He also reported the list of Yice-Pre- 
sidents and Secretaries, which was unanimously adopted. 

Hon, E.0SC0E Conkling requested the appointment of Edward 
Huntington, of Rome, on the list of Vice-Presidents. The re- 
quest was granted. 

PERMANENT ORGANIZATION : 

President — Gen. John Cociikane. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Hon. Clias. H. Ruggles, Benson J. Lossing, Dutchpss; Hon. 
Hiram Denio, Hon. Edward Huntington, Oneida ; Ch as. Mason, 
Madison; Thomas G. Alvord, Onondaga; J. C. Churchill, 
Oswego; Hon. E. M. ]\[adden, Orange; Hon. Henry Sher- 
wood, Steuben; Frederick Prime, of AVestchester ; John 

A. Stevens, Jr., George P. Putnam, John. W. Thorne, 
New York ; Geo. W. Ernst, Otsego ; Jacob I. Werner, Al- 
bany ; Hon. E. G. Spaulding, Erie ; Hon. John Wiley, Living- 
ston ; Hon. A. B. James, St. Lawrence; Hon. Nathan Lapham, 
Clinton; Martin I. Townsend, Rensselaer; S. S. Morgan, Che- 
nango ; Hon. Hiram Gardner, Niagara ; Harry Wilbur, Gene- 
see ; Louis Berthoud, Rev. John Nott, Montgomery j Hon. J. 

B. Williams, Tompkins. 

SECRETARIES. 

R, U. Sherman, Oneida ; L. Vanderkar, Albany. 

DISTRICT SECRETARIES. 

Id District. — Norman Stratton, Theodore G. Glaubensklee, 
New York. 

2c7. — Silas B. Martin, Orange ; C. A. Yan Yalkenberg, 
Dntchess ; Geo. A. Brandreth, Westchester. 

'id. — Edward Car}^, Albany ; P. Cantine, Ulster. 

Uh. — Mortimer Wade, Pulton ; J. Yan Slyck, St. Law- 
rence. 

5//^. — J. C. Duff, Lewis; B. Brockway, Jefferson. 

Qtth. — John T. Mygatt, Broome ; Francis B. Fisher, Che- 
nango. 

1th. — CUirk D. Tracy, Moni-oe ; Alex. Olcott, Steuben. 



17 

Sth. — Dan. H. Cole, Orleans ; Frederick Eaton, Catta- 
raugus. 

THE CEIAIRMAn's ACKOWLEDGMKNTS. 

The Permanent Organization being thus completed, General 
Cochrane said : 

Gentlemen, — I can do no more than return to you very sin- 
cerely my cordial thanks for this honor, and pledge myself to 
do my whole duty as your presiding officer. As an earnest of 
it I will proceed at once to business. 

Mr. J. M. Thompson, of New York, moved the following : 

I^esoI'ved, That a State Executive Committee be appointed 
to consist of two from each judicial district, and that the 
delegates from each judicial district select them subject to the 
endorsement of the Convention. 

Mr. E. B. EoosEVELT, of New York, suggested that the Ex- 
ecutive Committee consist of three members from each district 
instead of two. 

Mr. Thompson accepted the amendment. 

Mr. John Van Vooehees, Jr., of Monroe, said : I understand 
the object of this Convention to be to harmonize the various 
Leagues now in existence in this State, and put them all in 
communication with each other. With that view, Mr. Chair- 
man, I think that before appointing an Executive Committee, 
we ought to get at some basis upon which we can all stand, 
and liave some common method of going to work, and make 
this union of Leagues perfect. What that method shall be, is 
foi- the Convention to determine. I will move you, sir, for the 
sake of bringing the question before the House, as a substitute 
for the resolution offered, the following : 

Resolved^ That a Committee be appointed to consist of two 
from each judicial district in the State, the members of that 
committee to be appointed by the several delegates, whose duty 
it shall be to report to this Convention what action it ought to 
take to unite the various Leagues in the State, and embrace 
them all under one common head. 
2 



18 

Mr. J. A. MiLLAKD suggested that the matter had better go 
to this committee appointed to consider and report upon that 
very subject. 

Hon. Thos. G. Alvord, of Onondaga, hoped the business 
of the committee would be confined strictly to reporting a form 
of organization, and that no attempt would be made to force 
upon the Convention an Executive Committee to Mdiose acts 
and policy the Convention would be committed. He i)roi)osed 
that the resolution of Mr. Voorhees should be refeired to the 
Committee on Resolutions. 

Mr. J. M. Thompson, of New York, exph\iiiod tliat by the 
mode of appointing the Executive Committee, provided for in 
his resolution, the people of the State would be thoroughly rep- 
resented in the Executive Committee, as the mode of appoint- 
ing it was thoroughl_y popular. 

Mr. J. A, Millard : I think I was sufferinGr under a misap- 
prehension when I first spoke on this question, as to who was 
empowered to make this committee. I am informed that it is 
intended that each judicial district is to send two names to form 
part of that committee, whose duty it shall be to report a S^ate 
organization, or what organization can be adopted ; that being 
so, there can be no objection. 

Mr. Sinclair Tousey, of New York : I rise, sir, to a point of 
order — that this matter is out of order at present, for the reason 
that you h;ive just appointed a committee whose business it is 
to make a digest of the list of delegates, and report who is en- 
titled to vote ; you cannot properly and fairlj^ take any action 
until you know who are the delegates entitled to vote. 

The Chair overruled the point of order, on the ground that 
the Convention had decided to proceed to busin.ess, leaving the 
committee to go on with the digest. 

Mr. Alvord, of Onondaga: There must be some conflict of 
opinion here in regard to this matter. I now understand that 
the committee is to report to this Convention and tluit its duties 
do not extend beyond the Convention. W tlie Convention sees 
fit to divide the responsibility of the Committee on Resolutions 
and make up a special committee for this purpose, I have no 
objection whatever. What I do object to earnestly, sincerely, 
ardently, is the appointment at this time of an Executive 



19 



Committee, who may operate in the future in reference to 
any matter which may come np. I trust and hope, sir, that 
there is to be made up no political organization. [Applause.] 
"We are not politicians ; we stand by the country and the con- 
stitutional authorities in the hour of their peril. Let us there- 
fore sink part}', and sink it forever. 

Mr. Van Yookiiees : I mean by my amendment precisely 
what the gentleman advocates — that a committee of two be ap- 
pointed from each judicial district, who shall report to this 
Convention what action it is best to take. 

At the request of several delegates, the Chair stated the 
question as follows : The motion of the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Thompson) is : 

" That a State Executive Committee be appointed, to consist 
of three from each judicial district, and that the delegates from 
each district name them, subject to the endorsement of this 
Convention." 

For this, the gentleman from Munroe (Mr. Van Voorhees) 
offers the following substitute, upon which the question is about 
to be taken, namely : 

" That a committee of two from each judicial district be ap- 
pointed by the delegates of such district, to report to this Con- 
vention a plan for a state organization, if any." 

After some informal discussion, the substitute of Mr. Van 
Voorhees was adopted, and the Conveil|ion proceeded to select 
members of the Committee as provide'd for. The following 
gentlemen were selected : 

COMMITTEE TO REPORT STATE ORGANIZATION. 

1st District — Sinclair Tousey, J. M. Thomson, ISTew York 
City. 

'2d District — J. C. Adams, Orange county ; P. IT. Lasher, 
Dutchess county. 

3cl District — J. A. Millard, Rensselaer county ; Wm. J. Groo, 
Sullivan county. 

4:th District — Geo. L. Clark, Clinton county; Horace E. Smith, 
Fulton county. 

oth District — Hon. Koscoe Conklin, Oneida county ; J. C. 
Churchill, Oswego county. 



20 

Qih Disti'ict— John J. Hicks, Chemung county ; Geo. L. 
Rouse, Madison county. 

7th District — John Van Yoorhees, Jr., Monroe county ; 
Thomas Robinson, Wayne count}^ 

%th JDisf riot— Ron. M. Rice, Erie county ; Hon. Seth Wake- 
man, Genesee county. 

The committee then retired for consultation. 

During the absence of the committees the Convention unani- 
mously called for a speech from Gerritt Smith, who was finally 
prevailed upon to take tlie platform, and spoke as follows : 

SPEECH OF GERKIT SMITH, OF MADISON. 

This strikes me as a very mottled assemblage, politically con- 
sidered, and in a certain point of view, morally considered also. 
Here we are. Democrats and Republicans, temperance men and 
anti-temperance men, some one thing and some another, and 
there are soldiers among us. I see soldiers [applause] who have 
returned from the battle-field wet \\\t\\ the sweat of Avar, and 
some of them with its blood. They have returned to receive 
our benedictions and to be the witnesses of our enduring and 
deep gratitude for their heroic defense of our bleeding country. 
[Applause.] Now, what is the object that has had the power to 
collect this heterogeneous assemblage ? I answer, it is a com- 
mon cause. This is the mighty loadstone that has been able to 
draw us together, in spite of our mutual dilferences, in. spite of 
our difierent views and dift'erent character. There are persons 
so bigoted and so impracticable as not to consent to come into 
a common cause. I know Democrats who, not even to save 
their beloved country — I cannot say, however, how beloved to 
them — [laughter] — there are Democrats, I say, who, not even 
to save this dear country, will consent to vote any other than a 
Democratic ticket ; and I know Republicans who will not con- 
sent to vote any other but a Republican ticket; and I know 
Abolitionists, and I am ashamed of them, [laughter,] and even 
Temperance men, who will not consent to work. with any other 
than their own sort of people. But we, I thank God for it, are 



21 

not such. We, thongli differing from each other at many 
points, can, nevertheless, when the nation calls for it, consent 
to work together. Now, I ask, what is this common cause 
which hag drawn lis together? Just here give me your special 
attention. I ask again, what is this common cause? Is it to 
save the Constitution ? Oh ! it is inexpressibly more than that. 
There are many good, patriotic men, who don't wish the Con- 
stitution saved as it is ; they wish to have it altered. I, for one, 
would not have one word of it altered ; I have pleaded for it 
with lips and pen, more than any Democrat, living or dead. I 
would not have one word in it altered. [Applause.] Well, if 
this common cause is not to save the Constitution, is it to save 
the Union ? Oh, no ! unspeakably more than that. There are 
good men, and wise men, who do not like all the terms of our 
Union ; I like them all. [Applause.] I have never taken in 
my life, with lips or pen, the slightest exception to an}^ of them ; 
and probably never shall. Well, is it, then, the saving of the 
country that is this common cause? It is not even that, for 
there are many good men who do not like the present bound- 
aries of our country. They wish it to be made smaller. For 
my own part, every rood of it is dear to my heart. [Applause.] 
I would not have one star pass from the National flag. [Ap- 
plause.] Not even poor South Carolina. [Applause and 
laughter.] T love even South Carolina. I love her for the 
memory of her noble men who stood by the side of our revo- 
lutionary fathers. I love her for another reason ; I love her for 
what she will become again when she shall have come out of 
her present degeneracy and madness. Well, now, if this com- 
mon cause which has drawn us together is not the saving of the 
Constitution, nor the saving of the Union, nor the saving of the 
country, pray what, then, is it ? My answer will be — and it 
will leap up from all your hearts to your lips — it is the putting 
down of this accursed and causeless rebellion. [Applause.] 
That is the common cause that has drawn us together. And 
now, mark you, we all stand together at this point, where all 
good and jijst and patriotic men can and do stand with us. 
[Applause.] And then one thing more : that is the very point 
where unpatriotic and selfish men refuse to stand with us. The 
very point. And yet, some of these unpatriotic and self-seek- 



22 



ing men, and traitors among them, are very eager to assure ns 
of their intense regard for tlie Union and Constitution and 
country. But "when we turn upon them with the question, 
"Are you for putting down the rebellion ?" they are found 
wanting. That is just the only test to apply to tliem, and 
under its application they fail. I recollect that more than 
thirty years ago, when Great Britain was agitated by the prop- 
osition to abolish British slavery, some Quakers supplied them- 
selves with an image of a kneeling slave, and the appealing 
question running out of its mouth, " Am I not a man and a 
brother?" When the candidates for seats in Parliament would 
come around to these Quakers and solicit their votes, and tell 
them of the many fine things they would do if elected — things 
peculiarly acceptable to Quakers — these cunning Quakers 
would thrust in the face of these candidates this appealing image, 
and ask them, "Can you go that? If you can't go that, we 
can't go you."' Just so do we deal with these men, when the}'- 
prate about their love for the Constitution, the Union, and the 
country. I ask them, and you ask them, can you go for putting 
down the rebellion? If you can't go that, we can't go you. O, why 
should we go these vile hypocrites — for such tiiey are— who talk 
about being for the Constitution and the Union and thecountrj', 
and yet go not for putting down the rebellion, the putting 
down of which can alone save these blessings to us, and the 
triumph of which will rob us of them all ? And now we have 
before us but one duty ; our one work is the work of putting 
down the rebellion. You have got to come to this point. I 
don't allow myself to be a co-worker with any one on earth who 
does not come to this point. The putting down of this rebellion 
must be done, come what will to Constitution and Union, and 
even country. [Applause.] Can you go that? [Applause, 
and cries of "Yes, yes."] For I hold that onr duty to Justice, 
in putting down this rebellion, is inlinitely more commanding 
and absolute than any duty we owe to the Constitution or the 
Union, or even the boundaries of our countr}'. I claim that we 
are to go for putting down the rebellion unconditionally. Can 
you go that? You are not to say, we will consent to put down 
the rebellion on condition of the saving of the Constitution, 
the saving of the Union, or the saving of the country. You are 



23 

to saj, we go for putting clown the rebellion unconditionally, 
and that is just Vvdiere these traitorous enemies will not go along 
with us. [Applause.] What!— some one questions me — would 
you go for putting downi this I'ebellion with all the possible risks 
that the Union, the Constitution, and the country might go 
down with if? I answer, I would. I answer, I make no calcu- 
lation at all at that point. My only duty has been, from tlie 
first, the putting down of this rebellion. And here, some old 
Abolitionists, perhaps, w^ould ask me, Do you go for putting 
down this rebellion at all possible hazards, that Slavery may 
survive and be stronger than ever ? I do. I run that risk. 
[AppLiuse.] I liave no conditions to make in behalf of any of 
raj' hobbies, and have not had since the day the news reached 
meat Peterboro of the bombardment of Sumter. [Applause.] 
And now let me here say, that in my philosophy, the putting- 
down of crime cannot bring any harm to any good, cannot 
bring any help to any evil. Hence the putting down of this 
rebellion, which is the crimerof crimes, cannot bring any pos- 
sible harm to any good, in the Constitution, in the Union, or in 
the country, or in Freedom — none whatever. I call it the crime 
of crimes. Earth has never known a greater crime than this 
attempt to destroy a nation which had never done any thing to 
provoke that attempt — a nation which had always been not only 
just, but exceedingly partial, to those guilty of this piratical 
and murderous attempt. [Applause.] And now let me here 
say, that to make ourselves raoet effective in this work, we 
onght to cultivate earnestness. Oh ! what an immense advan- 
tage the South has had overns in that respect! If all our early 
Generals — I beg your pardon, Mr. President, I didn't include 
yourself — [laughter] — you are too nearly kindred to me that I 
should do that — I say if our early Generals had had but a tithe 
of the earnestness that characterizes the South and Southern 
Generals, we should not have needed to be meeting here ; the re- 
bellion would long ago have been ended. And there is one thing 
more we need to cultivate, and that is resentment. Can you go 
that? [" Yes, sir," and applause.] I know there is a senti- 
mental, nambyTpamby religion, which takes fright at the idea of 
cultivating resentment. We need more resentment to fight the 
rebels as we ou<r!it to fight them. That has been our want all 



24 

the way through. I recall a conversation with that great and 
good man, Theodore Parker, which I had a few years before 
his death — a conversation on the elements in human character. 
He claimed great credit for our power of hearty hating. That's 
like him ; and were he now alive, you might be sure of having 
at least one hearty hater of the rebellion. lie would exclaim 
with the Psalmist, " Do not I hate them, O Lord ! that hate thee? 
I hate them with a perfect hatred." Perhaps some one would 
remind me of the prayer, " Father, forgive them, they know not 
what they do." Now, I hold that this resentment is entirely com- 
patible with the highest civilization and purest Christianity, and 
entirely consistent with forgiveness ; but, moreover, these I'as- 
cals do know what they do, [Great laughter and applause.] 
Our Saviour had none such in his eye when he prayed. [Ap- 
plause.] They know what they do, and they do it with a hatred 
and with a will that puts to shame our indecision and gentle- 
ness. I say, we must go unconditionally for putting down the 
rebellion. And let me add, our loyalty is to be unconditional. 
We have tried our Government and we can trust it. [Applause.] 
I do not say that we are bound to agree with it in all its views 
of tariffs and other things ; I do not say that we are bound to 
approve all its war measures even. It is entitled to our loyalty, 
because it has abundantly proved itself to be honestly and 
earnestly intent on putting down the rebellion. I observed this 
forenoon a skittishness on one point — at the point of politics. A 
word on that. I have observed, I meant to say, that some persons 
are afraid that this grand Loyal League, into which I would 
have all right men of the North, South, East, and West enter, 
will become a party machine. Now, I would have this grand 
Loyal League a mighty power in politics. That's my view of 
it. [Applause.] I would have it work day and night to keep 
out of political office every man who is not unconditionally 
against the rebellion. I do not say to keep out of office Demo- 
crats or Kepublicans, but every man who does not stand by the 
Government, who is not unconditionally for the Government. 
I have never in my life voted a Republican ticket ; for I am, 
as I think, a Democrat of Democrats. Not a sham, spurious 
Democrat ; but a man going for the equal rights of all men. [Ap- 
plause.] If any man here can say, "I am a Democrat," I answer 



25 

in Paul's words—" I, more." Our great work is before 
us. It is not to save the Union, or the Constitution, or 
the country ; that is all prating. I do not want to hear 
a man speak about his love for his country, but rather 
about his liatred of the rebels. I will infer his love for his 
country from his hatred of the rebels. Put down the rebellion, 
and the Union, and the Constitution, and the country will take 
care of themselves. If a murderer should be discovered in 
Utica, the concern is to be, not for the safety of LItica, but to 
arrest and punish the murderer. Arrest and punish him, and 
Utica will take care of herself. Nor do I want you to talk 
about what shall be done after the rebellion is put down. The 
rebellion is not put down yet, and we never shall put it down 
if we allow ourselves to be diverted from the actual and urgent 
duties of the present to speculations in regard to the future- 
The only problem, Mr. President, that we can solve to-day, is 
putting down the rebellion. I would postpone every other 
thought to that solution. Let me add, " sufficient to the day is 
the evil thereof." We must grudge nothing; we must grudge 
no help, no precious treasure, no precious lives. JSTeither treas- 
ure nor life would be worth anything to us, or any right- 
minded man, if this rebellion were triumphant. If we should 
fail, we shall need no property to live on, for then we shall be 
sinking under loads of infam}^ and anguish of heart, and shall 
desire to live no longer. (Applause.) 

EEPOKT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS AND ADDRESS — DEBATE ON 
THE RESOLUTIONS. 

The Committee on Resolutions being ready to report, Mr. 
John Jay proceeded to read on their behalf the series that had 
been agreed upon. (See below.) 

Mr. Alvord, of Onondaga, hoped that the resolutions would 
not be passed without reflection and discussion. They should 
be acted upon separately. He endorsed the sentiments of Mr. 
Smith, of Madison, and hoped the expression of the Conven- 
tion would be confined to the questions of paramount and vital 
importance. Its business was to stand by the Government in 
its efforts to put down the rebellion. It would be time enough 



26 

when the rebellion was crushed and we were again at peace, to 
consider the other questions comprehended in the resolutions. 
When the Convention had done what it could towards putting 
down the rebellion, it would have done its duty. He, therefore, 
thought that the two first and the last resolutions reported were 
sufficient. 

The decision of the question being called for, tlie Cpiair took 
the question on the first four resolutions, which were adopted 
as follows, unanimously : 

1. Whereas, the strife of political parties is essential to the 
due working of Republican government, so long as their con- 
tinuance is compatible with the safety, prosperity, and progress 
of tiie peoj)le ; but in all times of national peril, or of menace 
to popular institutions, when a common danger demands union 
for defense, party organization falls within the denunciation of 
Washington, as the bane of freedom, therefore, 

.Resolved^ That at the present juncture, when the nation is 
engaged in a struggle for its integrity and life, it is the duty 
of all loyal men, without regard to personal preference^, pre- 
vious party organizations, or minor issues of whatever character, 
to unite on a broad and simple platform to maintain the Repub- 
lic. {Adopted unanimously.) 

« 

2. Resolved, That this Convention recommend the establish- 
meut of Loyal National Leagues throughout the country, on the 
same pledge with the single aim of securing a national sup]iort 
to the National Government, and with the view of tlieir continu- 
ance, only until the suppression of the Rebellion and the 
restoration of the integrity and harmony of the Republic. — 
{Adopted unanimously.) 

3. That the attempt of the Southern Confederates to destroy 
the nation, is one which the American people are bound to re- 
sist, not simply for the preservation of their national honor and 
their common interests, but for the reason that the success of the 
Confederates would be felt throughout the world as the death- 
blow of Republican institutions, and the overthrow of that 
democratic principle which recognizes political power as pro- 
ceeding from the consent of the people, and establishing on 
American soil the aristocratic principle thai holds the rights of 
the many subservient to the privileges of the few. {Adopted 
tmanimously .) 



27 

4. Resolved, That in onr opinion, when tliis war, prosecuted 
to prevent the establishment of a government at the South, in- 
compatible with and hostile to the National Government, shall 
liave accomjilished its object, by the suppression of the re- 
bellion and the irustration of its objects, we will gladly accept 
peace in the restoration of the iSTational Government in its con- 
stitutional and territorial integrity. {Adopted unanimously .) 



The fifth resolution, reported by the Committee, was caused 
to be read several times, and was as follows : 

5. JRcsoIvcd, That while we recognize in the executive, legis- 
latire, and judicial departments of the National Government, 
acting within their respective spheres, the oidy authority whicli 
can rightfully and successfully wield the resources and will of 
the nation in the maintenance of its authority at home and 
abroad, we also recognize the existence of powers in the Gov- 
ernment incident to a state of war, which powers necessarily 
inhere in the government of every nation in virtue of national 
sovereignty, and they may be called into exercise by those in- 
trusted with the National Administration, whenever necessary, 
for the pi-eservation of the National existence; — and that when- 
ever a just military necessity, or the exigencies of the country 
pending the war, shall compel an abridgement of freedom of 
speech, or of the Press, or a suspension of the writ of habeas 
corpus, the greatest care should be exercised least a da^igercnis 
precedent be established, that may induce or justify in future 
times the violotion of rights the u\ost dearly prized by the 
American people. {RecommiUed after debate. Seepage i^b.') 

Mr. Alvord, of Onondaga, objected to this resolution as an 
admission that the Government had violated the laws of the 
country, or a principle of the Constitution. He thoroughly 
justified the Administration in all its acts, and said that if it had 
any fault, it was because it had not been stern and unyielding 
enough. [Applause.] lie moved that the resolution lay upon 
table, but withdraw the motion to enable others to speak. 

Mr. Gerritt Smith, of Madison, said : It occurs to me that 
the resolution speaks quite briefly upon this subject of peculiar 
importance just at the present time. I should like to have the 
resolution laid upon the table, to the end that, at our evening 
session, a resolution may be brought forward speaking out 



28 

more fully on the subject, more argumentatively, more em- 
pliaticallj. 

A delegate suggested that from the stand-point of a Ee- 
publican, he agreed with the view taken by the Democrat 
from Onondaga. He had a resolution which he wished to offer 
as an amendment, but the chair declared it out of order. 

Mr. Mansfield, of Tiockland, said that he was heartily op- 
posed to laying the resolution on tiie table if the matter was to 
rest there. This was a Convention of the Loyal Leagues of 
New York. Their duty was not in the field ; they were not 
enlisted soldiers, and could not fight directly on the battle-field 
for the cause of their countr3^ But their duty was expressed 
in one of the mottoes on the banner in the hall, "Sustain our 
brave soldiei's in the field." It had been said that that which 
disheartened the soliders most was " the fire in the rear," and 
the very thing they were there to do was to take care of tliat 
" fire in the rear." He believed that this prating and copper- 
headism was what discouraged our soldiers most, and tliat was 
the very thing they had to contend against. He understood 
tiiat the duty of the Loyal Leagues was to sustain the efforts of 
the soldiers in the field, by opposing all those who tend to 
neutralize their efforts at home. iSTow that the Government 
had undertaken to put its hands upon these men, it was the 
greatest question which they had to settle, whether they would 
sustain tlie Government. They all knew that the most clamor 
ous accusations against the Government had been that of " in- 
vading the liberty of the citizen." It had been said that be- 
cause tiie offenders arrested were not rebels in the field, that 
their right of free speech had been invaded. He thought it 
proper that the Convention should express its opinion upon this 
subject ; tluit they did not believe the Government had invaded 
the rights of the citizens. If they recognized the fact, that the 
whole country was in a state of war, then tiiese measures tliat 
liad been taken by the Government were right and justifiable. 
It seemed to him necessary that they shouKl make some ex- 
pression of opinion, that if they touched this question. If they 
resolved merely that they were loyal, wliat would they have 
said more than a copperhead convention miglit have said ? The 
copperheads always prated about loyalty. It was their dut}^ to 
recognize that the Government had this power of putting its 



29 

hand upon these men, if necessary, for the pubh'c safety. The 
Constitution gave that right. It seemed to him that the last 
part of the resohition was unnecessar}' — that part cautioning 
the Government in regard to the exercise of its duty. He 
tliouglit it was liable to be misunderstood. He tliought it 
would be taken np by many persons as an implied censure 
upon the Administration. 

Mr. Joel Tiffany, of Albany, said : The resolution divides 
itself into two parts. The first part is the following : 

liesolved, That while we recognize in the executive, legis- 
lative, and judicial departments of the National Government, 
acting within their resjiective spheres, the only authority which 
can rightfully and successfully wield the resources and will of 
the 'nation in tlio niaintenence of its authority at home and 
abroad, we also recognize the existence of powers in the Gov- 
ernment incident to a state of war. 

Do you see anything in that part of the resolution denying 
the power of the Government to arrest a traitor wherever it can 
find him ? No. It plainly declares the authority of the Govern- 
ment to act in these States, when the civil power is over- 
hrown. This resolution is designed to sa}' to the people that 
the President is invested, under the Constitution, with certain 
powers incident to a state of war, and that the militar}- authority 
has as mucli right to arrest a traitor in Ohio, as it has (o arrest a 
traitor in New York, or a traitor in Yiiginia, [Applause.] 
When war is declared against the Government of the United 
States for the purpose of overthrowing it, that war is waged 
against tlie entire Union, the entire Government. It is no mat- 
ter that the clash of arms occurs in Virginia, North Carolina, 
or Georgia, the war is waged just as much against New York, 
as any other State. We are as much under tiie laws of war 
in the State of New York, as in the State of Virginia, 
because we have but one Government, and that extends 
throughout the United States. No matter whether the war is 
proclaimed against a foreign or a domestic foe, it is a war 
against the entire Government. Therefore, if a traitor, by act- 
ing in New York, by speeches, publications to be circulated in 
Virginia or South Carolina, or in any way gives aid and en- 



30 

conragement to the rebels, he is just as gnilty as his associates 
in Georgia or South Carolina. [Applause.] Just as guilty of 
treason as though standing in Eichraond, Charleston, or iSTew 
Orleans, and just as liable to suifer the penalty of death ; and 
just as legally, too. [Applause.] This resolution affirms the 
existence of this power, as incident to a state of war ; when we 
are engaged in a struggle to maintain the iNational Government. 
But, we have among us at the Nortii, a class of individuals rep- 
resented by that thing on the banner there [a copperhead] ,and 
we propose to take them just as the eagle takes that copperliead. 
[Applause.] We propose to become American eagles and take 
them by the neck. [Applause.] Wherever we find a vile cop- 
perhead trying to strike his fangs to the heart of liberty, we will 
seize him by the power of National sovereignty, and that is the 
National sovereign, for, as the resolution states, this power is vest- 
ed in the President, by virtue of hisoffice as Commander-in-Chief 
It is n"!adc by the Constitution iiis special duty to see that tl)o laws 
are faithfully executed. I was remarking the other day to ray- 
self, in reading the Constitution, the great power conferred upon 
the President. I was forcibly struck with the similarity of that 
clause of the Constitution to that given to the Consuls in the 
days of the rebellion in Rome, when the Senate decreed that 
the Consuls should see to it that the Republic sustained no det- 
riment. Understand, the power to do everything necessary to 
protect the Republic from detriment, was thereby delegated to 
the Consul. And, in this very provision, the very clause and 
section of our Constitution, wherein the President is made Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, says: " He shall see 
that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed." 
That is what he is trying to do; to put down this rebellion, 
that the laws ma}' be faithfully executed. So much for the first 
past of the resolution. Now what as to the remainder ? If there 
is anything needed in this country, where we are trying the 
experiment of maintaining a popular government, where those 
who rule, must rule by the will of the people, if there is 
anything we need more than anything else, it is that we have 
enlightened constancy for this Government, that the people are 
enlightened and informed. The principle is to throw out before 
the people of the State of New York this principle, that we 



31 

have this power incident to a state of war ; the Government lias 
it, and it has the duty of exercising that power. We do not 
feel that wo are censuring the President, casting reflections upon 
the President; finding fault with what he lias done. We 
do not wish to be understood as reckless, but, whenever this 
military necessity, pending a state of war, compels a resort 
to this power — now, recollect, we are confining ourselves 
strictly to a State whei'e we are in a state of peace — whenever 
the exigency of war shall demand a resort to this power as 
shall compel an abridgement of the freedom of speech, or of the 
}n-ess, or the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus^ we say 
that the greatest care should be exercised. Do not 3'ou say so? 
I wish to say that we are not reckless. I believe that the Presi- 
dent does not need caution in this direction, but there are those 
who feel differently. 

A Voice: We don't care for them. 

Mr. K^. Y. Hull, of Alleghany : I am opposed to the resolu- 
tions as they stand. I suppose that "\ve who are friends of the 
Government can consider these words safely, but they will be 
seized upon by those that we wish to pacify, who are the 
enemies of this Government, and they will pervert them to the 
detriment of the Government. Every word you say apologetic 
of the acts of the Government, must weaken the Government. 

Ml-. Center, of Kings, only objected to that portion of the 
resolution which succeeded the word " but." He despised and 
repudiated all buts. He spoke of the howls from the Governor 
and others in relation to the arrest of Vallandigham, and said 
we wanted a resolution passed by the Convention approving of 
that act. 

Mr. Lapiiam of Clinton : I think that the committee will report 
a resolution that will be entirely satisfactory to us. I move that 
the resolution be referred back to the committee. 

Mr. R. B. RoosKVELT, of ISTew York : Mr. President, in 
studying natural history, I have been often struck with the re- 
semblance between an ostrich and a man. I don't thiidv, how- 
ever, that man does himself much credit wdien he attempts to 
pursue the remarkable course peculiar to that animal, and by 
hiding his head imagine that no one can see him. JNow, gen- 
tlemen, I have seen since this war broke out, an attempt on be- 



32 

half of my own party, the Democratic party, to hide from that 
great question, the question of the war, that must be determined 
by the war — the question of slavery. I believed at the begin- 
ning that tl'.at question had to be met, and I believe so now. 
[Applause.] I no more believe that you can avoid that ques- 
tion than I believe you can avoid the question of putting down 
the rebellion itself. I sec an attempt on the part of some here 
to hide themselves from one of the most important questions we 
have to meet — the question whether the Government has a right 
to make arbitrary arrests — so much so, that here, the last gen- 
tleman Mdio spoke, said he would not mention the name of the 
traitor, wiio, he hoped, was at present sent South. I am not 
afraid to name him. I am a Democrat, and I claim the right 
when a Democrat turns traitor to his party and his country, to 
hurl him out. [Applause.] I claim the right — if it were in 
m}' power to do it — to stamp the deepest sign of infamy upon 
his forehead. I say VaHandigham is a traitor. [Applause.] 
I, as a Democrat, would go far to see him hung. [Applause.] 
1 have approved of the Government exercising its utmost power 
in putting down the rebellion, and in the course of the exercise of 
that power, if any individuals. North or South, stand in tlie way, 
I have said that the Government should sweep them from the 
path like Hies. I don't wish this question shirked. I want you 
to meet it ; meet it here, strongly, clearly, so that when we go 
back to our constituency we can say that is what the loyal 
men want them to stand by. [Applause.] I don't know what 
the copperheads think of this. I want to know what they will 
think of it. That resolution was debated with some vigor and 
eai'nestness before the committee, and various views were stated 
by the various members of the committee, and the original resolu- 
tion proposed in the committee was very greatly modified. But 
the thing that I want to avoid, that you want to avoid, is anything 
like succumbing to traitors. [That's it.] If a man goes around 
the city of New York, stirring the population up to riot, I say 
that the right to suppress him as a nuisance is unmistakable, 
and if a man thus stirs up rebellion in the vicinity of our homes, 
I want to see him punished. [Applause.] But, I would sug- 
gest to the Government to be very careful in the exercise of 
that power. I would suggest it, not in a spirit of faultfinding 



33 

not with the intention of casting reflections upon the Govern, 
ment, or anything it had done previously, but urging them, not 
as a matter of policy, but on the score of right underlying, all 
our interests — the right of every man to protection and liberty 
— urging them to be very careful tliat they do not select im- 
proper persons to punish ; that they don't, in seeking the guilty, 
add to the list of martyrs. I don't tliink there is anything in 
that resolution that will cast a reflection on tlie Government. I 
think that resolution meets the case fairly and simply ; that we 
sustain the Government in the course they have pursued ; that 
we are willing they should exercise every reserved right that 
the nation possesses for its preservation. We are also anxious 
to caution them, out of regard to themselves, out of regard for 
tlie cause of liberty, that they shall not, without great cause or 
provocation, arrest any. man. [Applause.] 

Mr. McDermott, of Kings, said he claimed that this Govern- 
ment had not been at fault for too much clemency, but rather 
for too little. I want this resolution stiffenned up, so that it 
shall say to Abraham Lincoln, that when a man comes into our 
midst, preaching civil war, it is his duty to arrest him, and stop 
him ; that the terrors of civil war shall not be brought to our 
homes as they have been brought to the homes of loyal 
men in the South. There is where the Government is remiss; 
it ought to go before the people, and claim, as a govern- 
ment, to protect us in our rights as citizens of the United 
States, and to nip the rebellion in the bud, which is threatened 
just here. I therefore want the resolution recommitted, so that 
the committee shall report to this Convention a clause in it, 
claiming this power for the Government, and calling upon the 
Government to perform their plain duty — that when a man, in a 
loyal State, raises his voice inciting people to the resistance of 
the laws, as men have done all through this loyal North, that 
resolution should say to the Government : " It is your duty, and 
it is our right to claim of you the performance of that duty 
without fear, that you shall nip this incipient insurrection in 
the bud." Therefore I hope that this resolution will go back to 
the committee and be stiffened up, [applause] and that this 
Convention shall not go before the American people as yielding 
any right of freedom of speech or of the press, but announcing 



u 

ourselves clearly, defiantly, as claiming all the rights of loyal 
citizens in regard to speech, and at the same time claiming the 
right to nip that speech, and nip that press, when it incites in 
surrection among us. 

Mr. Alvokd, of Onondaga : The resolution conveys the 
idea that the Administration has, in this matter of arbitrary 
arrests, as they have been called, done something wrong, and 
that it was therefore necessary that this Convention should 
travel out of its usual and ordinary course to censure it. He 
thought that in no act had the Government so fully met the 
W'ishes of the people as in this matter of arbitrar}'' arrests. [Ap- 
plause.] He was entirely willing to subscribe to the doctrine 
of the former part of the resolution if the Convention should see 
fit so to order, but he was willing to stop where the resolution 
divided itself. He considered that, while the Constitution 
guaranteed to the people of this State the right of petition, 
the Legislature was not bound to receive a disrespectful com- 
munication, so he said that the constitutional right of free 
speech v>'as not intended to sustain those who were speaking 
against the interests of the country. The resolutions which 
passed at the mass meeting of the Loyal League in Syracuse, 
entirely met his view, as follows: 

Resolved^ That while we cannot, and do not expect the acts 
of the Government will meet the entire approbation of all the 
people, and while we cheerfully yield to all the right fairly to 
discuss the propriety of the measures of Government, yet 
neither the obligations of constitutional law^ demand, nor will 
the present safety and perpetuity of our glorious Union permit 
us to quietly submit to the ranting of those men who pervert 
the right of free speech by open, studied, and continuous at- 
tempts to weaken the power of the nation by undermining the 
confidence of the people in the integrity of its constituted au- 
thorities. 

(No action was taken on this substitute.) 

He was not afraid to name the traitor from Ohio, C. L. 
Yallandigham, whom he thought to be engaged in acts against 
this Government still worse than those of the serried ranks of 
Vicksburg or Richmond. He approved of the sentence of 
Yallandigham, and would not at this time pause to say to the 
Government " Be careful." They had been already too careful 



35 



and too fearful of offending tlie dear people. The people 
wanted this war carried on to the knife — with that bitter, un- 
compromising hate that Mr. Gerritt Smith had spoken of. He, 
therefore, proposed to strike out the latter part of the resolu- 
tion. 

Mr. Jay : I propose that the resolution be recommitted to 
tlie committee, with the addition of gentlemen whom I will 
name, to form a resolution upon the subject. 

This motion was carried, and Mr. Gerritt Smith, Mr. Mans- 
field, of Rockland, and Mr. Alvord, of Onondaga, were added 
to the committee. The resolution was recommitted, and the 
Convention adjourned until half-past seven P. M. 



Evening Session. 

The Convention met pursuant to adjournment, and, while 
waiting for delegates to arrive, at the suggestion of Major 
Scholefield, joined in singing the " Star-Spangled Banner." 

Mr. Benj. J. LossiNG, who was upon the platform, said, tliat 
the singing of that song recalled an incident relative to the 
identical "star-spangled banner" which inspired the song. 
They all knew that the song was written by Francis S. Key, of 
Baltimore, who was a prisoner of war in 1814, on board a 
British ship which was bombarding Fort McHeury. All night 
long he expected that Fort McHenry would be taken, and 
when, in the morning, he saw that banner still floating from 
the ramparts, he was inspired to write that song. About a 
year ago, he (Mr. Lossing) was in Baltimore, and saw the 
identical flag that floated on Fort McHenry on the night in 
question. He was sorry to say it was in the hands of what they 
called a copperhead, but he hoped the owner had been con- 
verted since. [Applause.] 

Major Scholefield further suggested that they should join in 
singing a recruiting song with the refrain — 

Take your gun and go, John, 

Take your gun and go, 
For Rose can mind the oxen, John, 

And I can wield the hoe. 



56 

Mr. ScHOLEFiELD Said tliese words were addressed by the wife 
of a volunteer to lier husband. 

The Convention joined heartily in the song, then gave three 
cheers for the M'ife, three for John, and three for Rose. 

Gen. Cochrane resumed tlie chair, and asked whether the 
Committee on Resolutions was ready to report. 

Mr. Jay, on behalf of the committee, then reported the fol- 
lowing, in place of the fifth resolution : 

5. Besolved, That we approve the utmost enforcement of the 
laws against those Avho in JS'orthern homes are lendino: aid to 
the enemies of the country; that, in our opinion, the leading 
traitors and abettors of treason found in the Northern States 
should be promptly arrested, promptly tried, and promptly 
punished ; and that no outcry, however insolent or violent, 
should deter any officer of the Government, civil or military, 
from any measures that may be essential to the safety of the 
country in this crisis ; that, thus declaring, we deem it right to 
express also our conviction, which we believe to be the con- 
viction of a vast majority of the loyal people, that whenever a 
just military necessity, or the exigencies of the country pending 
the war, shall compel a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, 
great care should be exercised lest an example be set that may 
induce in future times the violation of rights dearly prized by 
the American people. 

(Laid on the table after debate. See page 47.) 

Mr. Jacobson, of Westchester, objected to the last clause of the 
resolution. He did not see in what respect the con)mittee had 
bettered it. It still cast an aspersion upon the Government or 
the Administration, that it had done, or would do, an unlawful 
act. If they were unconditionally loyal, they should support 
the Government honestly through tliick and thin — through 
every measure honestly undertaken for the suppression of this 
rebellion. They should not place an engineer in charge of the 
great machinery of Government, and then declare that they 
had no confidence in him. 

Mr. Sinclair Tousey, of New York, moved that the last 
clause of the resolution read by Mr. Jay be stricken out, and 
that the first clause be adopted. 

Mr. Center, of Long Island, thought that the Convention 
would not have done its duty if it refrained from action on this 
subject of the alleged violation of law by the Government. He 



37 

denounced the letter of Gov. Seymour to the Albany meeting, 
of sympathy with Yallandigham. He wanted this Convention 
to say, "Stop your hissing, you copperheads !'' [AppLause.] If 
the Convention did not speak out, it would be told, " You 
dare not come up to the mark, and justify an act which is an 
encroachment on your rights and privileges." Pie wanted to 
show that that charge was false, and to tell such men, " If you 
sympathize with that rebel, we will send you to keep him 
company." [Applause.] Since they would not receive Yal- 
landigham at Richmond, he trusted that as the traitor was 
unfit for either ISTorth or South, he should be suspended between 
the lines. [Laughter and applause.] The boys wouldn't dodge 
round when they fired, for fear of missing him. [Laughtei-.] 
He had not named Yallandigham, because he loathed the 
name ; he would spit it out, and stop his (Yallandigham's) 
mouth. [Applause.] He wanted the Convention to express 
its confidence in Buruside, its justification of his act, and its 
condemnation of the traitor who has got his deserts. [Applause.] 
The affair had already done some good ; it had unearthed one 
copperhead, Gov. Seymour. He knew Gen. Burnside well, and 
had confidence in him, and could, therefore, approve the act; 
but he found it pretty difficult to meet the arguments which 
were tlirust at him, by the Post and Tribune. But they had 
done one good thing — they had unearthed Seymour, and con- 
signed him to oblivion before the peopje of the State of New 
York. 

Mr. Joel Tiffany, of Albany, oflfered the following as a sub- 
stitute for the last clause : 

Resolutions peoposed by Me. Tiffany. 

Resolved, That, whenever the nation's existence is imper- 
illed by war, waged by foes from abroad, or by a foul con- 
spiracy and insurrection excited and carried on by disaffected 
and traitorous citizens at home, the nation ijossesses the inherent 
right of self-preservation ; and may defend itself against the 
force and machinations of the common enemy ^ and as the indi- 
vidual, so the nation, may use all means necessary for the en- 
forcement of such rights and the 2yreservation of its existence; 

AND THE MORE IMMINENT the danger, THE MORE ARSOLUTELY 

are all means at its disposal, to avert it. 
(No action taken on this substitute.) 



38 

Resolved^ That there is an imperative obligation resting on 
those entrusted with the power of wielding the resources and 
means for preserving the nation's existence, and maintaining 
its authority, to discharge the trust in such a manner as to 
preserve the nation's existence at any cost^ consistent with 
the value thereof; and by any means^ consistent with the 
lienor and integrity of a Christian people. And, in the dis- 
charge of their high, trust, they should adhere as closely to a 
constitutional administration of the Government, as adminis- 
tered in times of peace, as the exigencies of loar or rebellion 
will permit. 

(No action taken on this substitute.) 

Mr. Tiffany, in support of his resolutions, alluded to the signal 
defeat of the anti-war party in this State in 1861, and the re- 
buke of the revolution men, prophesying that the State would 
again prove its adherence to anti-party movements in time of 
war, and that the people would rebuke in thunder-tones at the 
next election those who presumed to say that the nation no 
longer trusted its rulers, or feared that the liberties of the North 
are in danger. He believed that the Convention had done its 
entire duty in passing the four resolutions already adopted, and 
that there is no necessity for lumbering up the platform with 
any other than the plain and simple positions already taken. 
But, if the committee still adhered to the resolutions, he trusted 
that his friend Mr. Smith would bring forward the series pro- 
posed by him. 

Mr. Alvoed, Onondaga, said he did not vote in Committee for 
the resolution reported. He did not think any resolution at all 
on the subject was necessary ; and certainly not such a milk- 
and-water affair as was proposed by the committee. He dep- 
recated making any issue on the point here; which could 
only have the efiect of giving the appearance to copperheads 
outside, that we, the Union men of the country, were divided 
among ourselves. The copperheads are growing less and beau- 
tifully less every day, and the best policy was to let the agita- 
tion they were raising die out from want of fuel. The Ides of 
November would show them whether in the matter of arbitrary 
arrests they represented the voice of the country. 

Major ScuoLEFiELD, Oneida, detailed many of the difficulties he 
had experienced in his recruiting tours in Oneida and other conn- 



39 

tics, from the discouraging words wliicli had been wliispered into 
the hearts of the 3'onng men of the country, by those wlio were 
anxious to discourage enlistments. In a hall on the other side of 
the street there was an individual who addressed a meeting, say 
ing, "I am opposed to any further enlistments ; opposed to another 
single soldier going; there is no such thing as ending this re- 
bellion by arms ; every soldier who goes is a miserable poltroon." 
Such is some of the lansuaiie we have had to meet. 1 had rather 
see the rule of Jefferson Davis over this country to-day, than the 
rule of the individual who has been chosen by thevotes of the 
people of this State to be Governor thereof If any notice 
whatever is taken of this Yallandigham, let it be to respectfully 
suggest that he, and those who think with hira, be consigned 
to the southernmost cape that points its finger to the very farthest 
portion of this Confederacy, so that when treason is swept out 
of our path, they shall be swept into the Gulf the first men. 
[Applause.] If you take any notice of them at all, notice them 
as you would a poll-cat — either by giving them a wide berth, 
or by sending them where they will not be able to make any 
possible nuisance in the path. [Laughter and applause.] 

Mr. Gerkitt Smith, of Madison : Believing, sir, that this Con- 
vention will not speak out with sufficient fullness on this great 
question of the freedom of speech, and its present connections 
in our country, by passing the resolutions of the gentleman from 
Albany, or by passing his resolutions amended, or unamended, — 
I offer the following substitute : 

Pkoposi<;d Resolutions of Mr. Gerkitt Smith. 

Resolved^ That, although the right of free speech, given 
to us by God and guaranteed by our Federal and State Consti- 
tution, should never bo abridged, either in peace or in war, the 
abuse of it, nevertheless, may, and sometimes sliould be pun- 
ished both in peace and war. 

Resolved^ That, in the case of abuses of this right in time of 
war, it is for the martial power, and it only, to decide which of 
them may be dealt with, if at all, by the slow and uncertain 
process of the civil law, and which of them must, for the safety 
of the country, be met by the promptitude and certainty of 
martial law. 

Resolved^ That, notwithstanding the martial power does, 



40 

in some instances, exercise unwisely, or even oppressively, its 
right to punish the abuse of free speech, the right nevertheless 
remains, and there is no appeal from the exercise of it but to 
open revolution. 

Resolved^ That the criticising of any instance of the ex- 
ercise of this right is entirely proper, provided it be in the 
spirit of justice, and with the patriotic purpose of helping the 
Government and harming the enemy, instead of the traitorous 
purpose of harming the Government and helping the enem3\ 

Mesolved, That to deny to the Government the right to 
shield the country in time of war fi-om the perils of treasonable 
speech, is virtually to deny to it the right to shield it from any 
perils, or indeed to take any steps to save it. 

I^esolved, That our Government lias given abundant proofs, 
that it is honestly intent ou putting down the rebellion, 
and preserving the rights of the people ; and tliat, therefore, for 
individuals or public meetings or the press to accuse it of aiming 
to put down free speech instead of the rebellion, and to oppress 
instead of protecting the people, is wickedly to slander the 
Government, and wickedly to impair public confidence in it, 
and wickedly to strike hands with the eiiemy. 

liesolved^ That the way to show our regard for free speech 
is, to stand b}' the Government in its endeavors to pre- 
serve to us a free nation ; since if this rebellion should be al- 
lowed to triumph, there will be danger, that not only free 
speech, but free limbs also, will be denied to us. 

Resolved., That our advice to the Government is, that it 
shall believe the loyalty of our noble army, and of the mass of 
our citizens, to be too deep to be disturbed by the treasonable 
words spoken or printed among us, and that it shall, therefore, 
save in a few aggravated or peculiar instances, give no heed to 
such words. 

(No action taken on this series of resolutions.) 

Mr. Gerritt Smith said : I will say a few words in support of 
the resolutions, although my voice is hoarse. I have two objec- 
tions to the resolution previously offered and the substitute. 
They do not assert the inalienableness of the right of free speech. 
They do not claim that it is God-given and inviolable. Another 
objection I have is, they don't speak out fully enough in 
regard to the rights of the military power to suppress abuses 
of free speech. I need not say that I prize free speech. 



41 

My writings and my speeches for more than a quarter 
of a century back, show how* truly I prize the freedom of 
speech. I hokl it as among the most precious gifts of God. I 
scout — I utterly scout the idea that it is a grant of government 
Government, at the most, can but guarantee its exercise. I 
might go on to say that my own personal safety has been too 
often imperilled by the enemies of free speech, for me to think 
lightly of free speech. Strange changes we witness in this war ! 
Twenty or thirty years ago I had often to retreat before the 
howling of democratic mobs, and that too when I was using my 
free speech only to expose the immorality of that system which 
forbids marriage, which forbids the reading of the Bible, which 
sells children by the pound, which puts women on the auction 
block, to be struck off to the highest bidder among the lustful 
who are coveting the possession of her charms. It was for this 
offence that I had to fly here and there, and hide myself from 
infuriated mobs. And now, I say, how great the changes in this 
world. The democratic party has become the great champion 
of free speech ! [Laughter.] ^But I won't trust them now. [Ap- 
plause.] I should be afraid they would mob me again if I 
should speak out against their great darling. But although we 
dearly prize free speech, we know that limits must be set to the 
abuse of it. We know that the salvation of the country requires 
such limits. I deny that limits are to be prescribed in peace or 
in war, by the civil or the martial power, to the legitimate exer- 
cise of free speech. It is to me as free as the arm is free. He 
who exercises it should have his title to it as absolute as his title 
to his limbs. And, I would say here, that it is for the martial 
power to say, in time of war, what abuses of free speech it will 
leave to the civil power, and the civil law to dispose of, and 
what abuses it will meet witli its own promptitude and 'certain- 
ty. Before taking my seat, let me affirm, what you are all 
ready to affirm, what you will all respond to — that it is a gross 
and guilty slander against the Government, and a corresponding 
crime against the. country, to charge, as individuals and as pub 
lie meetings, and as presses have charged, that the Government 
has turned away from the work of putting down the rebellion, 
and is putting down free speech. It is a gross and guilty 
slander, and I will say no more. [Applause.] 



42 



SPEECH OF HON. KOSCOE CONKLING, OF ONEIDA, ON THE EESOLUTIONS. 

Hon. KoscoE Conkling : As I was honored with a seat in 
the committee by which these resolutions were reported, I trust 
that the Convention will indulge me in a word, particularly as 
I have a suggestion to make. Although a member of the com- 
mittee, I happened not to be present when the original resolu- 
tion was adopted which was reported to the Convention ; there- 
fore I heard it first as it was read from the platform. I was one 
of those, however, who voted for the resolution submitted by 
my distinguished friend from New York, Mr. Jay, which I voted 
for as a resolution of compromise, one which I thought would 
meet the views of every member of this Convention. I am 
ready to vote now, if the questions shall be taken, for that 
resolution. Yet, before I do so, I desire to put myself right, in 
this behalf, before those who have taken part in this discussion, 
as well as those who have listened to it. I shall be willing, 
Mr. Chairman, to challenge comparison with any other mem- 
ber of this Convention, in the disgust and aversion with which I 
have witnessed the clap-trap and humbug,- fustian, and the rant 
which this arrest of Yallandigham has furnished the occasion for 
in this State of 'New York, [xipplause.] I am willing to chal: 
leuge comparison with any other man in the disgust he feels 
for those who have gone about haranguing crowds in order to 
range into a party everything brutal, savage, and cowardly 
among the population of the State of New York, I must 
always condemn those who have staid away from meetings of 
this character, and have written letters — [shame] — letters 
emanating from official authority — by which the people of this 
mighty State — the first republican State of Christendom — are 
told to " pause," " pause," ere they determine the question 
whether they will continue to support their Government, 
engaged in a bloody grapple with rebels for the mastery, 
whether they will take part in a struggle between light and 
darkness, aristocracy and democracy; between liberty and 
glory on the one hand, and the most God-daring, God-cursing 
despotism on the earth. [Applause.] Now, sir, I want to bo 
committed to no resolutions which would interpose a shield 
between the people and the men who have so far gone aside 
from the great duties that rest upon us all, apparently for the 



43 

sake of party pique and party triumph. They would drown 
our nationality in the bloody waves of revolution, and stand 
careless on the shore. [Applause.] Now, Mr. Chairman, 
in a few words, what is the case of this C. L. Yallan- 
dighara ? In a military district, on the confines of that 
portion of this continent upon which the rebellion has 
raised its hand to strike down constitutional liberty, there, 
upon those confines, in a military department, a democratic 
general, acting without the slightest instructions from the 
National Administration — and I do not speak in the air when 
I say this — a democi'atic general, acting of his own motion, 
arrested a citizen of the State of Ohio for inciting disorder and 
mischief. That was his ofiense. Who was the offender 1 I 
knew him well, personally, better than I know many gentlemen 
who sit upon this platform. I know that when the actors in 
this tragedy of treason were halting between two opinions ; 
when they were vacillating between doubt and determination ; 
when they could not satisfy themselves that it would be prudent 
to carry out their purpose ; at that time, trembling upon the 
brink of this mighty vortex into which they were swinging, C. 
L, Yallandigham, with that other traitor John 0. Breckinridge, 
w^ent to the city of Baltimore, claiming to be a representative 
of the North, and there held out, as far as he could to the South, 
the belief that when this battle commenced, there would be a 
party here in the North to inaugurate revolution and to " rear 
a guillotine here in order that heads might roll if Lincoln dared 
attempt coercion." [Oh ! oh !] Now, I have sometiines thought, 
that if right there, in Baltimore, there had been a little henlthy 
hanging then, it would have done much to nip the rebellion i;i 
the bud. [Applause.] I do not slander Baltimore, for, subse- 
quently, this same Vallandigham w^as expected to make a speech 
in Baltimore. I sive his words as he told me himself. A friend 
sent him word that he had better not come, as his life would 
not be safe among the loyal people of that slaveholding city 
[Applause.] Now, a little more about Yallandigham. I have 
heard him, as I think my friend the chairman has heard him 
repeatedly, in his place in the House of Eepresentatives, speak- 
ing, as the old man eloquent once said : " That the nation 
might hear." I have heard him declare, over and over again, 



44: 

that he believed this war a blunder and a folly, and he never, 
wonld vote to it a man or a dollar; that he would do nothing to 
prosecute it, nothing to bear it on to victory. Having done 
all this, he went to his own State, and there, on the stump, 
counselled, I will not say resistance — because I will measure my 
expressions — I will not say resistance to the laws — but he coun- 
tenanced and advised irreverence for law, contempt for law, 
saying, that those who would submit to laws which had been 
made and which had not been pronounced unconstitutional by 
any Court, were a set of contemptible slaves, who deserved to 
be fettered. He was tried and convicted. He applied to a 
democratic judge > — a judge who has been a democrat since 
Jackson lived — he applied to that judge, who issued a writ of 
habeas corpus. Upon its return, however, he fully, fairly, de- 
liberately, and patiently reviewed all the »ro5and co7is presented 
by Mr. Vallandigham and his counsel, and he then rendered a 
written opinion, or, more properly, wrote a judgment in the 
form of a written opinion, in which he held that Vallandigham 
had been properly arrested ; that Vallandigham was rightly 
held, and that the case was one in which the civil judicial 
power ought not to interfere. [Applause.] That is the case, 
and forthwith a mob in the city of New York has spasms and 
ecstacies of propriety. [Laughter.] They say that poor 
Vallandigham has been arrrested in his own house — 
whose house ought he to be arrested in ? [Laughter,] 
Now, what else? The whole swarm of sharks and pestilent 
beings — men who, long before anybody had been arbitrarily 
arrested ; men who, long before one single act had occurred — 
except the issue by the President of his Proclamation, in which 
he called for seventy-five thousand men to preserve from instant 
extinction your nationality — the very symbols, archives, and 
vestiges of it — when the President had done only that, these 
men reared their heads in base denunciation. The whole 
swarm cries out " treason," and indignation meetings are held 
— indignation meetings, which, when they were opened, re- 
quired word to be sent to the officers of our brave volunteers, 
to keep them away, lest their indignation should termiiuite the 
proceedings. [Applause.] The same men who will not let the 
soldiers vote [applause], justify the Executive of the State in 



45 

sending to the Senate a message or a political diatribe, which I 
believe he had no right to send, because no document had 
been sent him to sign ; but upon his own deliberation, he 
stalks into the Senate with a threat that he will veto their 
action if they take a certain course. 1 say it was an act which 
no House of Commons in England would have submitted to 
from that which cut off Charles' head. [Applause]. But, 
these men, I say, who want to eschide tlie soldiers from 
voting ; who send to officers of regiments to prevent soldiers 
coming to their meetings; those whose pride it ought to be, 
every day and every night, to reward the heroic ones for 
tlieir services in the field ; [applause] the men who are still 
outraging public sentiment and trampling upon the rights 
of the most patriotic ones in the community, have assembled 
and stand forth bravely as the elected champions of free speech. 
Who are these men who are so anxious about the God-given 
right of free speech ? Men have taken part in these indigna- 
tion meetings, whom, I will say — and I will prove it — men 
have taken part in these meetings, making speeches, and send- 
ing messages to arouse the worst passions of the populace, who, 
within two years and a half, have met secretly, clandestinely, 
and at night, to arrange to mob a woman because she sought, 
in a hall whicli she hired herself, to talk to a few old maids and 
barren women about free speech. [Applause, and roars of 
laughter.] But, my fellow-citizens, it is one cf the cljaracter- 
istics of this unholy rebellion, that you and I are compelled to 
sit down meekly as disciples of free speech at the feet of those 
who have for thirty years trampled upon every element of that 
right. [Applause]. No matter, I did not mean to multiply so many 
words about that. [" Go on."] Now, I am entirely of opinion — as 
much so as any gentlemen in this room — that we ought not to be 
induced, even to seem — not even to seem, for I would have not 
only the esse but the videri of the thing — not to seem to give 
one single inch to the rant and fustain and clamor of these 
men. They wanted a flaw to pick, and have taken tlds step to 
do it. They would array popular passion and prejudice against 
tliis Administration, and have seized upon this thing in oi'der to 
do it. 1 know they are hypocrites, and the}^ know tliey are. 
[Applause and laughter.] But, my fellow-citizens, while I 



46 

would not be coerced by men of this description into any posi- 
tion I would not otherwise take, on the other hand I would 
carefully guard against being driven by any false pride into 
withholding anything right in itself, and right irrespective of 
this clamor. I would guard carefully against being swerved 
by the disgust and contempt I feel for men who go snivelling 
around into meetings saying, " Don't be excited about this 
thing'' — *' dreadful thing" — " majesty of the law has been 
trampled down" — " let us pause" — " pause and see whetlier we 
will be on one side or the other" — " don't be excited" — " don't 
kill anybody in the streets" — "don't burn -any man's house." 
I say, I would not yield anything to these men. I would not 
allow myself to be swerved from doing what I knew was an ab- 
stract right. Now, we believe in the right of self-defence — self- 
preservation is a law of nature. Every individual within a free 
government has a right to live, and the right to do everything 
but interfere wuth his neighbor's rights- That is the first 
proposition, if I understand it, of this resolution. It is the duty 
of every loyal man to sustain the Government in anything, and 
every act honestly and essentially necessary to its supremacy 
and its continuance, and for the absolute subjugation of this, 
the most stupendous, most wicked, and the most causeless 
insurrection that ever disgraced the annals of mankind. [Ap- 
plause.] The second proprositiou in these resolutions is that 
we say — and we are ready to say it, because it is true — that in 
all cases calling for the exercise of this great power reposed in 
the Government, that power ought to be carefully and pru- 
dently exercised. Well, should it not ? There are certain great 
powers — I put it to the lawyers — that courts possess. Tiie 
Court of Chancery has always possessed the power to issue an 
injunction — a great prerogative. Have not all the Judges said, 
that that great power must always be exercised upon great 
deliberation, " and upon no other occasion," in the language 
of a very learned Judge ? So, too, with this great power — the 
greatest power that can be exercised in any free government to 
send out a fiat which will effectually, for the time being, suspend 
judicial vitality. Is it not true, is it not sound 1 I put it to every 
man, that Government should, if it exercise that power, do it 
deliberately, wisely, sagaciously, and firmly ? Does this resolu- 



47 

tion saj anything more than tliat? No, sir, I understand that 
it says no more. I very much mistake those who hear me, if you 
can be driven by the disgust you feel, tlie indignation you feel, 
and the disapprobation you feel for these men — driven to with- 
hold an expression that is true to-day; that ^Yas true yesterday ; 
which was not made more true because C. L. Vallandigham 
was arreste'd, which existed over him and before him, which is 
true for all time, that this great power of government ought to 
be "wisely, prudently, sagaciously, and firmly exercised," It 
seems to me that but for the bare fact that this citizen of Ohio 
has become subject to this arrest, not one gentleman who hears 
me would have I'aised his voice against the proposition that 
has been ultimately been reported by the committee. For one, 
Mr. Chairman, I deplore the length of this discussion, for the 
reason that this Convention has other matters of business, I 
understand, of importance, to transact ; and now I suggest to 
the gentleman by whom this resolution was reported — it is a 
suggestion that I make for myself alone — that as it is likely to 
tend to harmony, and to hasten the progress of our proceedings, 
that this resolution be withdrawn. Allow this subject to pass 
with the discussion, I think I may sa}^ the very able discussion, 
excepting that portion with which I hope it w\\\ terminate. I 
hope Mr. Jay will w^ithdraw his resolution, and let the discus- 
sion end the whole question. [Applause.] 

Mr. Jay : I have some doubt as to my right to withdraw the 
resolution, but I will do what will perhaps answer the same pur- 
pose, and will move, to lay the resolution upon the table. I 
understand the Committee on Permanent Organization is ready 
to report important business for the action of the Convention. 

The fifth resolution was then laid upon the table. 

Mr. Jay then read the remaining resolutions reported by the 
Committee : 

6. That the fact disclosed by Lord Lyons, that he had been 
secretly approached by professed political leaders, faithless to 
the honor of the liepublic, to arrange for British intervention 
in our national affairs, exhibits a depth of degradation and 
shame unknown in American politick since the day of Arnold ; 
and that all true Americans repudiate with scorn those who at 



48 

this crisis of their country's fate, solicited the intervention of 
the British aristocracy to assist them in their conspiracy with 
Southern traitors for an ignominous or a dismembered nation- 
ality. 

(Laid on the table without debate.) 

7. That in the Oreto^ the Alabama^ and other British vessels, 
built, equipped, manned, and armed in England, to prey upon 
American commerce, and to recruit at pleasure in her colonial 
ports, we recognize with deep regret, not Confederate ships of 
war — they were never seen in Confederate ports — not privateers, 
justified by the law of nations, but British pirates let loose in 
violation of English neutrality ; and that in the conduct of 
these vessels, covering the ocean with burning wrecks, in- 
humanly forbidding all efforts at rescue by the fear of capture, 
and thus enlarging English commerce by transferring American 
trade to British bottoms, M-e believe the world will recognize a 
violation of international faith, and an outrage on Christian 
civilization. 

(Laid on the table without debate.) 

8. That the ancient American doctrine, commonly known 
from its re-afhrmance by President Monroe, as " the Monroe 
doctrine," so far as it regards with disfavor European interfer- 
ence with the just rights of the countries adjacent to the United 
States, is a doctrine which for generations has been repeatedly 
approved by American statesmen, and warmlj'- cherished by 
the American people ; and that in view of our recent experi- 
ence of the disposition towards America of some of the leading 
European powers, national interests and national honor alike 
forbid the relinquishment of our olden policy of disapproving 
evei-y encroachment by European powers on our American 
neighbors. 

(Laid on the table without debate.) 

These resolutions were all tabled, upon the general under- 
standing that thoy were upon subjects not immediately con- 
nected with the business of the Convention, and upon tlie 
ground that portions of them were but repeating in detail a 
confidence in the Government, already expressed in the resolu- 
tions adopted. 

Mr. Jay then read the following, the last resolution reported 
by the committee : 

9. That having already freely given to the Government, at their 
call, of our fortunes and our sons, we pledge to them anew our 



49 

earnest and enduring support in waging to a successful issue 
this second war of American Independence, and we remember 
with constant pride, gratitude, and affection our army and navy, 
one and all, from tlie Commanding Officers to the drummer 
boys. 

This resolution was adopted unanimously, amid great ap- 
plause. 

The reading of the address being next in order, Mr, John- 
Austin Stevens, Jr., proceeded to read it on behalf of tlie Com- 
mittee as follows : 

ADDRESS 

OF THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE OF THE STATE OF NEW TOEK, IN 
STATE CONVENTION ASSEMBLED, TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

For the first time in history tlie spectacle has been presented 
to the World of a People self-governing and self-governed. 
The dream of statesmen, a form of government based upon the 
principle of the greatest good for the greatest number, lias been 
realized. Its liberal policy has invited to itself, and moulded 
into a wide and Christian nationality, the oppressed of all lands, 
who have sought undei" its mild rule that iield for individual 
energy which is denied in the countries of the Old World. 
The freedom of the individual, cramped, in other lands by 
the strong hand of power based on class and privilege, has 
made America the marvel of the world. The broad and gener- 
ous spirit which pervades her institutions, has, in less than a 
century, raised, her to a proud place in the family of nations. 
Her prosperity has exceeded that of all countries in all times, 
and a future grandeur is unfolding which only inspiration can 
measure or foretell. 

In the midst of this prosperity, in the hour of triumph, when 
the wealth of the country was only to be measured by the power 
of foreign nations to take of its surplus — when the centre of 
trade was to be moved across the ocean and fixed upon these 
sliores, and the domination which the food-producing nation 
always exerts over the food-consuming nations, was to begin — 
a moral domination to be exercised in the interest of all man- 
kind — a rebellion springs up and threatens the overthrow of the 
institutions by which this prosperity has been secured, and by 
which alone it can be maintained. 

Under old and feudal systems, all the rebellions against 

4: 



50 

constituted authority were in tlie interest of the go^'erned, and 
were intended to wrest from arbitrary power something of the 
rights which had been wrung from wealiness and ignorance by 
the strong hand. 

The American Revohition, whicli partly freed the Colonies, 
in 1770, from the feudal system, and which established this 
nation on the broad and firm base of democratic and repre- 
sentative government, was a revolution in the sacred name of 
liberty. 

The present rebellion, the most gigantic in power and the 
most portentous in results, which the world has yet seen, aims 
to break down the form and destroy the substance of that 
liberty secured to us at great cost and by severe trials. It has 
been left to American citizens to commit a crime so great that 
history has no parallel for it — the rebellion of a large portion 
of the people against their own self-instituted and self-estab- 
lished rule — the rebellion of a democracy against popular 
government. 

For, however opinions may differ as to the origin and causes of 
the reijellion, it is now clear, and admitted by its leaders, that its 
real object is to establish a stronger form of government than a 
republic. 

It is only now, in this period of great civil war, that the nation 
is fully realizing the beauty and the strength of that system 
of polity Avhicli their forefathers perfected, and that they begin 
to understand its power and its flexibility. The most careful of 
the observers of its progress were unaware of its hidden forces 
which are yet comparatively as untested and unknown as the 
hidden powers of the electric fluid, or the force of steam. 

A rebellion against the principle of democracy — a rebel- 
lion against the law of representative government — is a rebellion 
against mankind itself. In the success or destruction of the 
rebellion are involved not the happiness of America only — not 
the liberties of America only — but the peace and welfare of a 
world. 

If this nation falter in its hard but necessary task ; if this 
Government fail, the progress of humanity is arrested, civiliza- 
tion is turned back upon itself, and another night, like that of 
the middle ages, will close dark and gloomy upon mankind — for 
progress is the law of life ; forward to light, liberty, and happi- 
ness ; or, backward to darkness, slavery, and miserj^ 

The world's battle-ground is here. 

The great cause fur which Ave are banded together is the 
the cause of liberty, the cause of democracy, the cause of civili- 
zation. 

For this we associate ourselves as a Loyal ISTational League, 

PLEDGED TO UNCONDITIONAL LOYALTY TO THE GOVERNMENT, tO an 



51 



l'nwaveeing support of its effort to suppress the eebellion, 
and to spare no endeavor to maintain unimpaired the na- 
tional unity both in principle and territorial boundary. 
For this we declare our object to be to bind together all 

LOYAL MEN OF ALL TRADES AND PROFESSIONS IN A COMISION UnION 
TO MAINTAIN THE POWER, GLORY, AND INTEGRITY OF THIS NATION. 

For this we are joined, hand in hand, and heart to lieart, in 
common brotherhood ; and for this we proclaim onr principles 
Ijoldlv and openly, that ail may hear. 

* Where tyranny crnshes out the iirst manifestations of indi 
vidual expression, and checks every attempt to widen the field 
of individual freedom, secret organizations are wise and just. In 
the past they have largely aided the cause of mankind. In the 
Border and Southern States, where armed authority has wrested 
the government from the popular grasp, they are necessary. 
But here, on the soil of freedom, loyalty needs no disguises. 
Loyalty should be as open as Christianity. Liberty does not 
thrive in the twilight or the dark — she loves the broad sunlight, 
and the brightness of the day. What said the Eoman orator, 
when Cataline armed against his country? — "Let what each man 
thinks concerning the Republic be inscribed on his forehead." 

To be loyal to our country, to proclaim ourselves at all times, 
and in all places, Americans — loyal Americans — what loftier 
])rivilege? The ancient Roman held no title prouder, claimed 
no honor higher, as he journeyed over the vast conquests of the 
imperial city, than that of a Roman citizen — " Civls liomamis 
Siuji.''' How much more noble tlie title of American citizen — 
heir to an undivided portion in the heritage of liberty won by 
the energies, and first consecrated by the blood of our fathers, 
and now doubly dear to us that its fertile soil is moistened and 
enriched by the heart's blood of our brothers and our sons ! 

Why is it that we are here ? — why do we gather from all 
parts of this great commonwealth, to renew to each other, in 
the face of all mankind, our sacred pledge ? Why are we thus 
formed into a Loyal Band, counted and numbered and enrolled? 

Because the God of Kations has decreed that nations, like 
individuals, shall be the architects of their own happiness or the 
authors of their own ruin ; because, while the keepers of this 
Paradise were asleep, the Serpent, the Copperhead Treason, 
crept into this Eden. 

Because in the day of our pride we have as a nation held ma- 
terial prosperity too dear, and counted I^ational honor too 
cheap ; l3ecause we have neglected the study of the law of life, 
and permitted error to grow unheeded into gigantic proportions; 
because we have blinded our eyes to the heresies which have 

* For the action of the Convention on this paragraph see page 56. 



52 

grown up like ill weeds, until they threaten to choke out the 
healthy growth of true opinion. Because while open treason 
has sprung to arms, liidden treason and secret disloyal organiza- 
tions seek to paralyze the hand which would strike it down. 
Because while the material forces of liberty and slavery are 
arrayed in deadly strife, the one marehaled under the banner 
of law and democratic government, and the other under despot- 
ism and aristocratic privilege, a contest goes on at h'ome in the 
moral world. 

The held of battle is not the only field on which the merits of 
this war must be decided ; the forum and the hearth-stone are 
the scenes of a no less momentous contest. 

The struggle is for the possession of the national mind as well 
as of the national arm. Truth and error are contending for the 
mastery, 

A Major-General in the army, writing of the pledge of the 
Loyal National League, happily remarked, " that it does not 
" differ substantially from the one which I took some time since, 
"and in a more formal and solemn manner even than is pro- 
" posed by tlie League, and which I share with a million others — 
" the oath of the army to bear true faitll and allegiance to the 
" United States of America, and to serve them honestly and 
" faithfully against all their enemies and opposers whomsoever. 

" May not those who have taken tliis oath be regarded as 
" virtually members of the Loyal National League, active 
" members, who to fulfill their pledge, have given up nearly all 
" of their personal liberty, and most of whom are now sacrific- 
" ing the material interests of themselves and families f 

Our brave soldiers in the field are indeed the active members 
of our League, but to us also there is a struggle as deadly and 
more momentous in its consequences than theirs. 

How shall we best perform that duty — that patriotic duty im- 
posed upon us by the voluntary pledge we have assumed '^ 

For this we are gathered here, and for this we now address 
all loyal men. We are to set forth and uphold and maintain 
tlie principle on Avhich this Government was founded, and the 
right of self-government and democratic representative rule. 
AVe are to see that the truth is brought to the door of every 
man, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, in the length and 
breadth of this land. By public speeches, lectures, and ad- 
dresses, by private conversation, by the careful and thorough 
distribution of lo_yal documents, and by the spread of all loyal 
journals, regardless of their special party proclivities, we are to 
encourage this people through sacrifice and hardships, at the cost 
of all that God in his boundless bounty has given them, of all 
that they liave gained l)y heritage, or earned by their own hard 
and weary toil, to stand firm and steadfast to tlie cause which 



53 

they have espoused — even to the laying down of life itself on 
the altar of patriotism and of duty. 

This is no light task. It demands the aid of the pnrest and 
brightest intellects, the earnest sympathy of the warmest hearts, 
and the steady intelligent effort of every member of the League. 
It is labor to which we pledge ourselves — it is " to spare no 
effort " that we are solemnly engaged. The orator in the crowded 
square, the lecturer in the public hall, the divine from his desk, 
the student in his closet, must prepare and set forth the truth. 
Art, in its many forms and beauties, nnist lend its aid, and the 
breath of song must wake to new and burning heat the smould- 
ering embers of patriotic fire. 

Much has been done by all these forces ; much is daily doino- 
but concentration is needed to blend in one resistless force all 
these scattered elements of power. 

History records what great results have been reached by in- 
dividual and combined efforts. A few monks travelling on foot 
centuries before printing and railroads and steamboats and the 
telegraph, by personal appeal to the Christian heart of the mid- 
dleages, aroused all Europe to an armed crusade and weary 
marches over unknown lands to redeem the Holy Sepulchre. 

Within the memory of men now living a still more marked 
instance of the power of organization has been witnessed. 

In 1839, shortly after the appeal of the manufacturers had 
been rejected by the British Parliament by a vote of 361 to 
172, the Anti-Corn Law League was formed. A central office 
was established at Manchester with numerous branches. Talent 
of every kind was at once employed, and by the well-directed 
efforts of the League, in a few years a Parliament was elected 
in support of its views, and the great commoner, then pi-ime 
minister, gave his adhesion to its opinions. 

When such a result was attained by an organization founded 
on a principle of political economy, what may not be reached 
by the Loyal National League based on loyalty to democratic 
government, and pledged to maintain the national unity and 
the national life ? 

We urge, therefore, a thorough organization in every State, 
not by political but by local divisions, so that the color of sus- 
picion of partisan motives may not rest upon it. Existing 
parties may continue or new be formed. Members of the 
League will exercise their individual opinion, and cast their vote 
as conscience directs ; but the League isself will look beyond 
parties to the welfare of the people, of which parties are but 
parts. Its duty will be to raise and purify, to instruct and 
encourage the l)ody politic itself, and so doing to lift up all 
parties to a higher moral standard. 

To effect this, concentration is necessary. Union is necessary. 



The Loyal National League urges upon the Leagues in the 
State which are not formed under its auspices, (known to be , 
but few in number) to adopt its pledge and its title, and they 
respectfully submit the same to all organizations in other States 
of a similar nature. So will all lo_yalty be enrolled tor con- 
sistent eflbrt, and treason will creep back into its hiding places, 
cowed into insignificance and disgrace. 

A League, large or small, should be at once formed in every 
town, to receive and distribute docnments and to secure subscrip- 
tions to loyal journals. A county organization should be 
formed in every county to provide for sucli distribution, to 
secure the needed funds, and to arrange for public addresses at 
stated periods and at principal places. And a general State 
Council should be established to supervise and harmonize the 
action of the different organizations, and to direct their efforts. 
This important body should be composed of men of the greatest 
purity of character, the most marked intellectual ability, and the 
loftiest patriotism. 

The Loyal Publication Societies in New York, Boston, and 
Philadelphia, M'liich include in their publishing committees some 
of the best literary talent of the country, provide a ready means 
for an important part of the work thus laid down. It is for the 
Loyal National League to give a practical result to their able 
patriotic labor. 

Above all, we urge on every individual member to act faith- 
fully np to the pledge he has taken. At all times and in all 
places to proclaim his loyalty, and to nphold the honor of this 
Government — in every manner to support its authority and con- 
demn its assailants, relying always on that Providence which 
blesses honest labor and crowns it with success. When each 
man has performed his whole duty, he may fold his hands in the 
consciousness that he has not been less faithful nor less deserving 
of the honor of freedom than the soldier in the field. 

Thus may lie be secure that when his last hour shall come, 
he will feel satisfaction that his life has not been all in vain, in 
that, in the day of trial and adversity, he was faithful to the 
cause of country, and liberty, and law, and that his children 
will remember him with pride as one who deserved well of the 
Republic. 



Mr. Alvoed, of Onondaga, proposed as a substitute for the 
address the resolution submitted by him as a substitute to tfie 
report of the Committee on Resolutions, together with the fol- 
lowing, the whole being the resolution adopted at the Syracuse 
demonstration of the day previous : 



65 



Pkeamble and Resolutions. 

Whereas, As in the hour of individnal danger it is the duty 
of all to exercise their greatest effort to avert the threatened 
calamity, so, when peril surrounds the people, and the safety of 
the Government is in jeopardy, duty requires that all citizens 
should rally as one man to the support and maintenance of that 
Government ; and, 

Whereas, In the judgment of this meeting, the hour is now 
upon us which, heyond all othei's, demands that every patriot 
should boldly take and fearlessly maintain the position of a cor- 
dial supporter of the Government in the struggle for life and 
its eti'orts to throttle this rebellion , and that for the time all 
personal and political considerations should be made subservient 
to this paramount obligation : therefore, 

Resolved, That duty dictates and patriotism compels us first 
to support and sustain the constituted government of this 
country in preference to personal considerations or party obli- 
gations. 

Resolved, That in this struggle there is no middle ground for 
doubtful fidelity to the nation to stand upon — that those who 
are not for are against the Government ; and that it is the 
meres'; sophistry for any one to claim that he is a patriot and a 
friend of the Union, while by his acts and words he demonstrates 
his sympathy with its enemies and consideration for traitors in 
arms against it. 

Resolved, That we congratulate each other, and the country, 
upon the victoiious progress of the arms of the Union in the 
Southwest, insuring the opening of tlie Mississippi, dividing the 
head of the rebellion from its trunk, and giving it no longer 
lease of life than the spasmodic throes of the dying serpent. 

Resolved, That, believing the breaking up of this Govern- 
ment and severance of these States would be the direst calamity 
whicli could happen to us as a people, and to the cause of uni- 
versal freedom throughout the world, we will, to avert it, sus- 
tain to the end — by our voices, our treasures, and our blood — 
our constituted authorities in their efibrts to crush out this 
rebellion, ami to restore the Government to its former unity ; 
and to this end we now openly and publicly resolve ourselves 
into a Loyal Union League, to aid in the concentration of the 
power of our people to the support of the country. 

Resolved, That any person subscribing to the following dec- 
laration of principles is declared a member of this League : 

We pledge ourselves " to an unconditional loyalty to the 



56 

Government of the United States, an unwavering support of its 
efforts to crush the rebellion, and will spare no endeavors to 
maintain unimpaired the national unity." 
(Rejected. See below.) 

Mr. McDermott, of Kings, took occasion to say that he thought 
the Loyal League organization was essentially a party organiza- 
tion, as they were bound in principle to sustain no man at the 
polls who was not unconditionally loyal. 

Mr. Sinclair Touset, of New York, asked whether a motion 
to lay the substitute upon the table would not carr}'- the original 
address with it ? 

The Chair replied that it would. 

Mr. Ira D. Brown, of Oswego, objected to the portion of 
the address condemning secret organizations. 

Mr. Sinclair Tousey, of Kew York, moved the previous 
question, which was ordered by the house. 

The question was then taken on the substitute offered by Mr. 
Alvord, which was lost by a large majority. 

The Chair then decided that a division of the question had 
been called for, and that the question would now be taken on 
the address without the paragraph relating to secret societies. 
The paragraph objected to by Mr. Brown was read and re- 
jected. 

The address, as amended, was then adopted. 

Mr. J. A. Millard, of Renselaer, from the Committee on 
State Organization, next read the following: 

Report of the Coiveviittee on State Organization. 

That a State Committee of two from each Judicial Dis- 
trict be appointed on the recommendation of the delegates 
therefrom, seven of whom shall constitute a quorum, with 
power to aid in the organization of local Leagues, and the dis- 
tribution of documents, and to do all other matters connected 
therewnth, calculated to augment and unite the loyal sentiment 
of the State of New York. 

And that each county organization be requested to appoint 
one person to correspond in its behalf with the State Committee 
on the business of the League, and to co-operate with it gener- 
ally in all matters connected with its business and welfare. 



67 

The committee recommend the early formation of county 
and town Leagues tliroiighout the State, auxiliary to the State 
organization. 

Mr. Alvoed, of Onondaga, wanted a resolution adopted that 
the Executive Committee should not exercise the powers of a 
political State Committee. 

Mr. Millard : That is implied. 

Mr. Alvoed : Then let it he expressed. 

Mr. R. B. Roosevelt wanted New York city to have four 
members instead of two, in order to secure a quorum on an 
emergency. 

Mr. VooEiiEEs, of Monroe, seconded the suggestion. 

Mr. Millard thought the difficulty could be met by the State 
Executive Committee appointing a Business Committee that 
could be available at all times. 

Mr. Carey, of Albany, made some remarks relative to the 
differences among the Loyal League of the city of New York, 
stating that he wished some measure adopted that would secure 
the co-operation of the Loyal League of Union Citizens. Ho 
moved a reconsideration of the report of the Committee in 
order to take into consideration some means of securing the co- 
operation of the " Loyal League of Union Citizens." 

Mr. Alv^ord, of Onondaga, was unaware that there were any 
differences among the Loyal Leagues. 

The Chair stated that he knew of no difference. 

Mr. Alvoed, of Onondaga, strenuously objected to the ap- 
pointment of any State Coimnitteo. 

The Secretary, Gen. Sheeman, of Oneida, said that he would 
in season submit a resolution to provide for a union of all the 
Loyal Leagues of the State. 

Mr. C. E. Stephens, of Lewis, incidentally alluded to the 
periodical quarrels of New York city, and objected to the 
appointment of the Executive Committee. 

Mr. Lapham, of Clinton, earnestly supported the report of the 
committee. He favored the appointment of a State Executive 
Committee. 

Mr. R. B. Roosevelt said there were not only two, but three 
Loyal Leagues in the city of New York, but that there was no 



58 

quarreling. The two organizations spoken of were two general 
organizations that were elected at large meetings, and represent 
those meetings. The organization he represented was different 
from them both. Every ward in the city was represented in it 
by delegates duly elected. They had their central organization 
in the city of New York, and had sent delegates to this Con- 
vention. Althougli there might be 25,000 other delegates here, 
he claimed that their fifteen or twenty delegates represented 
full *as many in themselves. 

Mr. J. M. Thompson, of New York, said the main object 
of this Committee was to complete a State organization, and 
when that was done they would all join in the celebration to- 
morrow. 

Mr. Sinclair Touscy, of New York, said there was an evi- 
dent misunderstanding on this subject. Some had the idea 
that there were organizations in New York conflicting with 
each other. He wished it understood that they did not con- 
flict in any manner whatever. They were every one bound to 
sustain the Government and crush the rebellion [Applause.] 

Mr. John Austin Stevens, Jr. : There is one word which should 
be said on behalf of the gentlemen from New York consiitu- 
ting the Council and Executive Committee of the Loyal Na- 
tional League, and I feel bound to say it, and that is, tliat the 
Loj^al League of Union Citizens, were invited, not only to send 
delegates here, but also to extend invitation to all of tlie Leagues 
in the State, if any, which liave been organized under its 
auspices, to be represented here by any members they chose 
to send. And there has been an invitation from the Loyal 
League of Union Citizens, requesting the National Loyal League 
to attend the mass assemblage here on the 27th, together with 
an invitation to supply speakers. [Voices — " All right."] 

After some informal discussion, a motion to recommit the 
report of the Committee on Organization, was lost. 

The report of the Committee on State Organization was then 
adopted, as given on page 55-56. 

Gen. K. U. Sherman, of Oneida, offered the following reso- 
lution, which was adopted : 

Resolved^ That the State Committee to be appointed by this 
Convention, be instructed to take such measures as will secure, 



59 

if possible, united action among all Union Leagues in the State 
in the objects of their organization. 

The Convention then took a recess for the purpose of enabling 
the district delegates to elect two members of the State Exec- 
utive Comtuittee from each Judicial District. Upon the reas- 
sembling of the Convention, the following selections were 
announced : 

Statk Exkcutive Committee.* 

1st Judicial District — George Opdyke, New York ; James 
T. Brady, New York. 

'2d District — Alex. Davidson, Rocldand ; J. O. Nodyne, 
Kings. 

3c/ District — Thon;as B. Carroll, Rensalaer ; John C. ISTew- 
kirk, Columbia. 

^th District — John F. Havens, St. Lawrence ; Darius V. 
Berrj', Montgomery. 

5^/i District — Gen. R. U. Sherman, Oneida ; Edward S. 
Lansing, Jefferson. 

QtJi District — Abraham Lawrence, Schuyler; Hon. Ezra 
Cornell, Tompkins. 

7th District — I. L. Endress, Livingston; Adolphus Morse, 
Moni'oe. 

^th District — Harry Wilbur, Genesee ; Dan. H. Cole, Or- 
leans. 

Mr. Jay said the Convention might be interested in len-nrng 
that Mr. Opdyke and Mr. Brady, the chosen members for tue 
first district, were both members of the Union League of Loyal 
Citizens, and that Mr. Brady was also the chairman of the 
Central Committee of the Loyal National Leagues in the city 
of New York : thus all the City Leagues were represented in 
the State Executive Committee. This announcement was re- 
ceived with applause. 

Hon. RoscoE Conk LI iNG offered the following resolution, which 
was adopted by iicclamation : 

* For Post Office addresses, see fly-leaf at close. 



60 



Besolved., That we are earnestly in favor of allowing to the 
soldiers of the Republic, wherever stationed by order of the 
Govei-nnient, the right to vote, and every otlier constitutional 
right. 

Mr. Jay proposed the following resolution : 

Hesolved, That it is not the purpose, nor within the power of 
the committee here appointed, to form or provide for any par- 
tizan organization. 

This was adopted unanimously. 

Mr. Ira D. Brown, of Oswego, offered the following resolu- 
tion : 

Resolved, Tiiatthis Convention approve and endorse the acts 
of our military authorities in arresting and punishing those 
persons who notoriously emijloy themselves in giving aid and 
con)fort to the enemies of the United States in time of war and 
formidable doinestic insurrection. 

The resolution was unanimously adopted. 

Mr. J. A. Millard, of Renselaer, moved that when the Con- 
vention adjourn, it do so to meet at the Celi:bration to-morrow. 
This motion was carried amid applause. 
Mr. Tiffany moved the following resolution : 

liesolved, That the thanks of this Convention are hereby j)re- 
sented to the President, Brig.-Gen. John Cochrane, honorable 
in council, and in the field, for the ability and fairness which he 
has displayed during the sessions of this day ; and also to his 
coadjutors, and the other officers of this Convention, tor the 
fidelity with which they have performed their several duties in 
the facilitation of the business for which this body has as- 
sembled. 

This was also adopted by acclamation. 

Mr. Sinclair Tousey offered the following resolution, which 
was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved^ That the thanks of the Convention be and are here- 
by tendered the Mechanics' Association of Utica for the gratui- 
tous use of their Hall during the proceedings of this Con- 
vention. 

The Convention then adjourned sine die. 



61 



L.IST OF DELEGATES. 

The following is tlie list of delegates as made up by the Com- 
mittee to digest the rolls : 

Albany. — Joel Tiffany, Chas, Knickerbocker, Howard Holdriclge, Ed- 
ward Gary, Luman Thomson, Brace Millard, Leonard VanderkMr, James 
M. McGowan, John A. Delamater, Ira Porter, Jacob I. Werner. 

Alleghany. — Hugh Severance, B. F. Langworthy, N. V. Hull, C. M. 
Severance. 

Broome. — D. J. Chittenden, J. S. Patterson, C. B. Gould, Edward H. 
Edwards, John T. Mygatt, J. Ft. Sands, Giles W. Hotchkiss, D. H. Crutten- 
den, A. E. Andrews, N. J. Hopkins, C. W. Sears, O. E. Bump, W. W. 
Elliott, Lewis Morris, Tracy R. Morgan, B. C. Vosburg, E. D. Robinson, 
Elliott Spencer, L. P. York, E. E. Jackson, Wm. R. Osborn, J, F. Gary, 
0. W. Chapman. 

Cattaraugus. — Frederick Eaton. 

Cayuga. — E. B. Latimer, William Wasson, John T. M. Davie, J. J. 
Grundy. 

Chautauqua. — Dr. T. B. Brewer, A. D. Marton, N. S. Hinckley, R. 
Sunderlin, E. P. Whitney, Austin Smith, William McKiustry, H. D. M. 
Miner, H. C. Frisbee, Calvin Hutchinson, Chas. L. Mack. 

Chemung. — J. T. Rathbone, John L Nicks, D, F. Pickering, David 
Decker, Wm. T. Post, D. G. Curtiss, J. T. Dudley, W. H. Welch, D. B. 
Nelson, John Ross, J. G. Lowraan, Samuel Everett, David Thomas, Dr. 
H. Seaman. 

Chenango. — Francis B. Fisher, J. B. Reynolds, P. B. Rathbone, Geo. 
W. Sumner, S. S. Morgan, S. Steele, J. T. Butterfieid, L. N. Smith, 
George C. Rice. 

Cortland.— mxixm Crandall, R. H. Duell, T. C. Poraeroy, F. D. 
Wright. 

Clinton. — George L. Clark, L. AV. Pierce, Nathan Lapham, Dr. F. 
Weaver, B. J. Weaver. 

Columbia. — Wm. H. Seymour, Robt. G. Mitchell. Hudson. — 1st 
"Ward — A. P. Cook, Hermann Esselstyno, Jacob W. Hoysradt, J. 
Stanton Gould, Hiram Morrison. 2d W-'ard — Robert A. Barnard, John 



62 

S, Esy, John C. Ilogeboom, David Rainey, Samuel R, Rainey. 3d 
Ward — Robert McKinstry, Joel T. Simpson, John C. Nevvkirk, Thos, J. 
Best, George Waring, 4th Ward — Abraham F. Miller, John Welch, 
James N. Townsend, Henry House, Robert F, Groat. 

Delaware. — Edward Van Dyck, E. Fero. 

Dutchess. — Charles H. Ruggles, John Thomson, Samuel J. Farnum, 
James Mackin, James Emott, Philip H. Lasher, Ludwig Elstein, Elias 
Titus, Benson J. Lossing, F, A. Utter, Otis Bisbee, H. G. Eastman, Ed- 
ward N. Crosby, G. C. Burnap, Geo. Wilkinson, C. A. Van Valkenburg, 
Isaac Piatt, J. D. W. Whittemore, Henry W. Tibballs, James Van Len- 
ven, George A. Shufdot. 

Erie.—E. G. Spaulding, E. S. Prosser, G. W. Clinton, H. W. Rogers, 
Rufus Wheeler, Isaac Holloway, James M. Smith, Geo. R. Babcock, John 
Wilkeson, F. A. Alberger, James H. Palmer, F. P. Stevens, Robert Mills, 
Isaac Wheeler, F. A. Georger, Capt. Levi A^allier, Jacob Bever, P. H. 
Bender, C. R. Durkee, A. J. Buckland, Joel Wheeler, Ira Barnard, E. G. 
Grey, Christian Scblink, Thos. Chester, Lt. J. E. Ransom, M, Mesmer. 
Galusha Parsons, Wm. Hambleton, East Hamburg. Orasmus Warren, 
Clarence. E. R. Hensler, Tonawanda. Joseph Plumb, Collins. John 
Peterson, Alexander Brush, Henry B. Miller, Henry H. Clapp, Col. Wm. 
F. Rogers, G. A. Scroggs, Joseph Candee, Geo. E. Hayes, E. C. Sprague, A. 
D. Williams, Wm. F. Miller, Henry Tanner, John M. Gilbert, E. Madden, 
C. A. Van Slyck, Henry Clinton, Wm. R. Allen, J. J. Weller, P. J. Heim- 
lich, W. J. A. Meyer, N. Ilagerman, James Adams, Isaac Schermerhorn, 
Geo. Urban, E. Storck,Capt. Daniel Myers, Capt. A. M, Adams, Capt. A* 
M. Wheeler, J. C. Dann, J. B. Dick, Aurora. J, B. Youngs, Amherst. 
C. B. Rich, Newstead. C. Emmons, Concord. Johnson Parsons, Lancas- 
ter. Wm. H. Moor, Gilbert Candee, Capt. R. P. Gardner, J. N. Earned, 
M. Rice. 

Fulton and Hamilton. — B. T. Simmons, D. Stewart, R. Getman, Joseph 
McDermod, James M. Dudley, Horace E. Smith, William J. Heacock, 
Alanson Judson, Seymour Sextou, Rev. Isaac Parks, Allen C. Churchill, 
M. Wade. 

Genesee. — Robert Foot, Capt. Crowen, G. W. Terry, Solomon Lusk 
Sidney U. Main, L. Green, Theodore Gumming, John Fisher, William W, 
Gould, Seth Wakeman, Horace U. Soper, William S. Mallory, Samuel C. 
Holden, Daniel D. Waite, Jerome A. Clark, M. M. Hewitt, George Bowen, 
Harry Wilbur, Henry Monell, Eli H. Fish, Chester E. Olcott, John F. 
Plato, Charles Henshaw, Ferdinand H. Hull, George B. Kemp, William 
Tyrrell. 



63 

Herkimer. — John H. Wooster, A. H. Lafflin, A. R. Thomson, Newell 
Morey, R. W.Payne, R. H. Pomeroy, Lawrence L. Merry, P. Remington, 
H, B, Jennings, F. C. Shepard, Wm. J. Lewis, J. Chismare, J. M. Bur- 
dick, P. Osgood, E, Owen, C. Johnson, W. IL Dixon, Josiah Stiull, E. 
Roach, John Stilwell, N. Uines, S. P. Coe, T. Payne, E. W. ^Partridge, 
Dr. Valentine, J. H, Beebe, B. B. Moon, M. Moore, E. G. Seavey, D. 
Terry, S. R. Millington, Solomon Graves, P. D. Bellinger, G. A. Russell, 
J. G. Creamer, N. M. Moon, S. M. Richmond, 0. Ladue, J. R. Stebbins, 
Wm. M. Dorr, G. A. Hardin, James Hart, Lester Green, Nicholas Staring, 
David Barton, James M. Hulser, Robert Etheridge, Jonas Zoller, W. H. 
Tisdell, John Hulser, J. M. Pierson, Jacob Dygert, William Gates, Wil- 
liam Steele, Richard Davis, Ezra Graves, James Small, C. A. Moon, V. 
Owen, Charles Johnson, Wallace Bullock, D. O, Wendover, H. H. Lewis, 
E. M. Batchelder, C. P. Washburn, Zenas Greene, E. C. IMnny, James 
A. Suiter, John Hortman, B. W. Howe, A. R. Snell, S. V. Main, 
G. W. Cond, B. Polsin, H. Farrington, S. E. Brown, M. Shofur, W. 
Chisstin, Nicholas Christman, Mark Batchelder, G. T. Woodin, William 
Benchley, AV. B. Maben, W. F.Harvey, J. G. Burrill, Levi Nellis, Nathan 
Metcalf, Harvey Huyck, Nathan Easterbook, Alfred Snell, Peter Wether- 
stine, B. F. Lane, P. Eaton, John D. Wetherstine, John C. White, E. J. 
Graves, Moses C. Holden, Jr., Orville Tupper, George Stimpson, J. D. 
Mack, Christian Wayman, William Hortman. 

Jefferson. — James A. Bell, Beman Brockway, James K. Bates, Levi 
Miller, Henry Peck, A. C. Moffiit, George Webb, George W. Fox, Jesse 
Babcock, William L. Huntington, Perley Ainsworth, Luther Barrows, M. 
Wilkinson, C. Littlefield, V.S.Hubbard, Sidney Cooper, L. Palmer, Solon 
Hungerford, Luther Barrows, Geo. W. Bond, Nathan Strong, Geo. Bab 
bitt, C. A. Benjamin, G, M. Hopkinson, J. M* Ackley, Geo. Hazelton, E. 
S. Lansing, R. Gallagher, H. B. Keene, Sylvester Kellogg, W. V. V. 
Rosa, W. P. Peck, G. S. Saweus, Wm. Estes, L. D. Davidson, Waterman 
Johnson, Geo. Webb, P. S. Thompson, Wm. Dewey, 0. Sawtelle, Henry 
Essylstine, A. W. Peck, C. W. Burdick, Jerome Bushnell, Romos Wells. 

Kings. — J. 0. Nodyne, John McDermott, William Julian, Jr., Cheney 
Parker, Demas Strong, George B. Lincoln, Alfred M. Wood, John AVil- 
liams, Paul J. Fish, George H. Roberts, S. D. Clark, A. N. Bliss, John N. 
Stearns, Stephen Clark, Elisha Whitlock, Edgar M'Mullen. Brooklyn 
Union League, Sylvester M. Beard, Sylvester C. Beard. 

Lewis.— R. A. Phillips, C. H. Curtis, John O'Donnall, C. E. Stephens, 
C. A. Foster, A. H. Buck, C. F. Willard, John Doig, Z. Knox, John Bene- 
dict, M. M. Smith, J. B. Phillips, D, C. West, J. L. Leonard, J. C. Duff. 

Livingston. — R. F. Hicks, Jacob A. Mead, Loren Cay, George S. Whit- 



64 

Tiey, J. A. Brodhead, Col. R. Sleeper, Albeit Page, Isaac L. Endresp, J. 
"VV. Stanley, James C. Jackson, R. F. Jackson, John Wiley, H. Dyer, G. 
C. Marvin, M. O. Austin, G. A. Pearce, W. H. Kelsey, Jedediali Hors- 
ford, A. Northrup, W. S. Coffin. 

Mudison. — Gerrit Smith, W. H. Brand, D. W. Cameron, Jos. NicLols, 
G. L. Rouse, F. A. Crandall, T. B. Bishop, B. T. Clark, Hon. Charles 
Mason, George F. Burn, J. M Gray, L. Casler, W. G. Manchester, E. D. 
Van Slyck, W. C. Russell, General B. F. Bruce, Ralph Havery, A. B. Brush, 
Dr. A. G. Purdy, Jno. M. Messenger, James A Bennett, Theop. F. Hand, 
J. E. Ostrander, A. D. Kennedy, R. Quids, S. 0. Travis, G. T. Kertland, 
Earl Cliapin, Thomas T. Loomis, J. E. Ferry, John Crawford, Thomas N. 
Jones, Perkins Clark, Samuel Breese, John Reese, George W. Ellinwood 
Jos. Mason. 

Monroe. — H. N. Beach, George D. Brown, John R. Garretsee, George 
W. Rawson, John Van Voorhees, Jr., C. D. Tracy, B. F. Enos, Adolphus 
Morse, Lyman M. Newton, W. W. Hegeman, Alonzo Chapman. 

Montgomery. — Andrew Gilchrist, John C. Smith, Harvey Dunckel, 
George Smith, William Clark, A. Diefendoif, J. W. Cronkhite, Ab. Wal- 
rath, D. C. Cox, Charles Webster, Lewis Berthoud, Jacob AVendell, Har- 
vey Miller, Major Hackney, A. H. Ayres, Uriah Potter, A. Carey, John Q. 
Congdon, James Edwards, Robert Van Epps, Kev. Dr. Nott, D. V. Berry, 
J. L Buckbee, George C. Simpson, Jacob Sneck, M. Quiuby, H. Shaffer, 
S. Smith, Barzillai McNeil, J. C. Nellis, M. Klock, A. Beekman, M. Country- 
man, Enoch Snell. 

New York. — John A. Stevens, Jr., John Jay, T. S. Berry, Robert B. 
Roosevelt, Henry A. Cram, E. F. Davis, J. M. Ihomson, Charles H.Smith, 
Alex. Wilder, Horace Greeley, Sinclair Tousey, John Keyser, Salem T. 
Russell, Norman Stratton, Jacob L. Sebring, S. B. Van Dusen, Robt. H. 
Johnston, W. L-win Adams, 0. F. Hawley, Jeremiah Paugburn, J. W. 
Thorn, S. T. Munson, George F. Merklee, John C. Hart, Andrew Uoogland, 
Amos Dodge, Alex. M, Eggeson, Joseph Edgerly, Nathaniel Appleton, 
Judge Welles, Matthew Kane, Livingston Carghill, O. S. Follett, Nelson 
D. 'J'hayer, Jas. G. Ryers, Robert Peterson, William H. Gedney, E. W. 
Dennison, Alex. H. Keech, Charles P. O'Neal, Robert Edwards, Jr., Kobt. 
Carpenter, Colonel A. Seymour, Terrance Kernan, C. P. Tucker, F. C. 
Tread well, J^Iartin Thatcher. 

Niagara. — Hiram Gardner, William Keep, John Van Horn, T. N. 
Webster, L. H. Nichols. 

Oneida. — Gen. R. U. Sherman, D. M. Prescott, Jos. P. Richardson, John 
W. Cuok, S. M. Foster, J as. Campbell, G. C. Palmer, Wra. M. French, J. 



65 

Hart Case, Maj. C. M. Scholefield, Geo. Balis, R. B. Soules, E. F. Wil- 
liams, C. C. Cook, M. S. Wood, J. F. Smyth, C. N. Spencer, N. B. Stevens, 
J.J. Wiles, E. Rockwell, D. E. Bickford, J. Monroe, J. H. Munger, R. Fra- 
zer, B. Hincklej, H. F. Curtiss, F. H. Conant, G. W. Wood, L. Curtiss, A. 
H. Bailey, B. N. Huntington, W. G. Abbott, D. Wardwell, S. Wardwell, 
E. Huntington, A. Sandford, Thos. P. Abeel, W. Northrop, Jno. J. Parry, 
Jr., J. P. Hager, S. B. Roberts, E. P. Wait, C. M. Green, W. MacPher- 
son, Lyman Wilcox, E. J. Lawton, Harvey S. Bedell, Roscoe Conkling, P. 
R. Root, W. Hunt, L. W. Rogers, E. H. Roberts, E. A. Graham, A. Hub- 
bell, P. V. Rogers, T. S. Faxton, John McCall, Wm. H. Watson, John 
Butterfield, N. Floyd, J. C. Hoyt, Theo. S. Sayre, J. S. Peckham, B. D. 
Hulbert, Rev. D. Skinner, A. A. Boyce, Schuyler Hubbard, William How- 
arth, Chas. H. Doolittle, D. J. Millard, J. S. Jones, J. M. Childs, J. M. 
Collins, J. Childs, Henry Farman, C. H. Daly, Thos. Daly, P. Foote, R. D. 
Spencer, G. Ritter,S. Duffy, W. Plunkett, E. M. Somers, C. T. Pooler, A. 
AV. Kellogg, S. W. Bass, H. Rouse, S. Gridley, Fayette Peck, Herman 
Daly R. G. Savery, David White, G. W. Brown, J. White, B. Waterman, 
Geo. Batley, J. B. Halsted, Rev. J. N. Brown, P. Mattoon, J. E. Theall, 
Col. C. Kaiser, Rev. J. S. George, Peter Kirk, Wm. Faulkner, Jr., Jno. 
Annis, J. N. Conant, D. G. Van Zandt, John French. 

Onondaga. — "V. W. Smith, T. G. Alvord, Jas. Manning, N. B. Smith, 
S. F. Smith, D. H. Bruce, H. L. Duguid, Jas. Terwilliger, Peter Burns, 
H. DeWolfe, A. Wilkinson, John S. Phillips., Frank Hiscock. 

Orange. — E. M. Madden, Joseph Davis, E. R. Wilcox, Joseph Lemon, 
Levi Starr, Hermon B. Young, S. B. Martin, R. Millspaugh, Jno. C. Adams, 
T. M. Peck, W. H. Pearne, S. Phillips, Jas. Little, W. W. Perkins, W. H, 
Downer, W. S. White, H. Brown, V. Thompson, Ambrose S. Murray, 
John N. Ryerson, Virgil Thompson. 

Orleans. — Hon. W.Davis, Jr., C. A. Harrington, J. H. Dewie, E. R. Rey- 
nolds, A. H. Goodman, J. M. Corwell, E. Porter, A. M. Ives, F. A. Dewey, 
S. H. Clark, D. H. Cole.E. N. Hill, R. P. Bordwell, M. Harris, N. W. Butts, 
T. E. N. Pettingill, Dr. W. McKenan, Eli Clarke, G. W. Bedell, Stephen 
Barrett. 

Oswego— lx& D. Brown, Chas. A. Perkins, J. R. Pierce, C. P. Kellogg, 
Dr. E. A. Potter, Geo. Eggleston, M. J. Garson, S. R. Taylor, E. N. Rathbun, 
D. H. Marsh, Z. D. Stevens, G. E. Parsons, Rev. A. J. Phelps, W. J. Smith 
John C. Churchill, R. L. Adams, R. K. Sanford, H. N. Gilbert, Benj. E. 
Bowen, Leonard Ames, S. H. Stone, A. F. Kellogg, L. B. Conklin, D. W. C. 
Peck, L. F. Afred. 

0/se^o.— Jonah Davis, F. M. Rotch, P. Weeden, C. A. Church, G. W. 
Ernst, A.J. Hendryx, A. B. Losey. 
5 



66 



Putnam. — No list. 

Queens. — Wm. Norton, B. IleiKiiickson, R. F. Pralt. 
Rensselaer. — Tli. B. Carroll, J. A. Millard, Geo. M. Taylor, J. R. Prentice, 
M. I. Townsend, John M. Francis, R. M. Townsend, T. B. Gowes, B. P. Bird- 
sail, G. Robertson, Jr., J. Forsyth, W, L. Rankin, C. E(hly, N. Hayes, Rev. 
Wm. H. Meeker, E. 0. Aikin, E. S. Norton, T. R.,Matht*r, Sainl. Clay, Dr. 
Allen, M. W. Lasher, Matthew Moore, Wm Lansing, C. G. Ham, Wm. Van 
Olinda, B. E.Heydon,Jocas Whiting, Hiram Dres.ser, J.E. Kimball, G. Den- 
nison, Thos. Pervis, P. Cornell, Palmer Cornell, N. R. Wilber, John Nittsie, 
A. Birch. 

Richmond. — Alex. A. Gunn, George W. Curtis. John E. Armstrong, 
Michael Conkling, Nathan Barrett, C. F. Mansfield. 

Rockland. — Geo. S, Allison, G. S, Wood, C. F. Mansfield, C. Tompkins* 
Alex. Davidson, James Schlimm, John Stilwell, E. J. Strand. 

St. Lawrence. — Stephen B. Vanduzer, Geo. Robinson, J. F. Havens, /. 
Van Slyck, R. R. Jackson, L. Chamberlain, J. E. Brooks, Wm. R. Rem- 
ington, J. Traver, M. D. Packard. 

Saratoga. — W. M. Potter, E. R. Co^k, S. Lewis, J. Benedict, J. P. But- 
ler, R. J. Milligan, F. T. Hill, J. H. Wright, G. E. McCunbee. 

Schuyler. — A. Lawrence, S. C. Mix, C. Sheldon, John McCarthy, Robert 
Darling, John Hroderick, O. M. Clavharty, John Campbell, L. M. Tweed, 
H. S. Benedict, H. W. Jackson, D. B. Thompson, J. C. Risden, S. W. 
Sackett, T. L, Minier, Robert Darling, James Cormac, Leroy Becker, Wm. 
G. Goldsmith, Wm. Bower, Ira Stilwell, E. C. Spalding, Daniel Corey, G. 
W. Bodle, Alexander G. Bower. 

Seneca. — Benson O^en, J. H. Carrol, Rev. Mr. Knight, L. 13. Howell, 
Lyman Crowell, C. H. Weed, Henry W. Seymour, A. Mundy, John A. 
Annis, Geo. Cowan, E. B. Boardman, Isaac Fuller, J. K. Richardson, S. L. 
Stringhara, William Knox. 

Schenectady. — Geo. Westinghanse, D. J. Forrest, F. De Wegne, J. S. 
Landon, Jacob Vedder, J. A. Deremer, J. W. Veeder, S. V. R. Ford, N. 
Barhydt, R. C. Doan. 

Schoharie — Daniel Knower. 

Steuben. — Henry Sherwood, Ch. H. Thomson, John N. Ilungerford, 
Alexander Olcott, Lieut. M. Brundage. 

Suffolk. — C. D. Elmore, John C. Wells, John Shirley, J. K. Mowbray, 
Jos. R. Rowland, M. B. Brown, Joseph Latham, Richard W. Smith, John 
Wells. 

Sullivan. — W. J. Groo. 

Tioga— 11. G. Stagg, J. B. G. Babcock, W. P. Hilliard, L. A. Waldo, 
A. J. Laiiig. David Taylor, Charles Stebbins, T. C. Piatt, David Neally, 



07 



Albert Williams, F. H. Todd, Geo. C. Royce, Chas. Manning, Harvey 
Cornell, Jerome Thompson, Lyman Bradley, Wm. Smyth, Frank L. 
Jones, Lucius A. Waldo, Selim Kirby, Matthew Westcott, John H. 
Darning. 

Tompkins. — J. B. AVilliams, J. M. Finch, S. H. Wilcox, Merrit L. Wood, 
O. B. Gurran, George McShane, Curtis Tabor, J. H. Selkreg, Wm. L. Bos- 
wick. 

Ulster. — P. Henry Burwik, James G. Graham, Peter Cantine, H. D, 
Laflin, Henry M. Boies. 

Warren.— R. M. Little, O. Ferris, W. A. Faxon, Isaac Mott, J. E. Cad- 
well, W. A. Fonda. 

Washington. — 

Westchester.— FrQ([Qnck Prime, H. W. Clark, C. H. Roosevelt, Otto F. 
Jacobson, George A. Brandreth, F. C. Burrhus, J. L. Jewell, M. B. Dema- 
resl. 

Wayne. — E. M. K. Glenn, Lowin L. Rose, C. B. Collins, Thomas Robin- 
son. 

Wyoming. — E. E. Furraan, W. H. Merrill. 

Yates. — S. H. Wells, John D. Wolcott, Morris Brown, Harley Holmes, 
Stephen C. Cleveland. 

Note. — This list is necessarily imperfect, although great pains has been 
taken to render it as nearly accurate as possible. The printed list ia the 
Utica Herald has been carefully comp^tred with the original credentials. 
Great allowance must be made by the delegates whose names may be 
omitted or misspelled. The lists of one or two counties which were repre- 
sented seem to have been mislaid. Corrections will be made as fast as 
received, by addressing the Secretary of the Loyal National League, 
813 Broadway, New York. 



STATE COMMITTEE. 



JUDICIAL DISTRICTS: 

1st. — George Opdyke, New York. 

James T. Beady, " 

2d. — Alexander Davidson, Haverstraw, Eockland. 

J. ISToDYNE, Brooklyn, Kings, 
3d. — Thomas B. Carroll, Troy, Bensselaer. 

John C. Kewkirk, Hndson, Colnmbia. 
4th. — John F. Havens, Canton, St. Lawrence. 

Darius Y. Berry, Fonda, Montgomery. 
5th. — B. XT. Sherman, ISTew Hartford, Oneida. 

Edward S. Lansing, Watertown, Jefferson. 
6th. — Abraham La\pience, Havana, Schuyler. 

Hon. Ezra Cornell, Ithaca, Tompkins. 
7th. — Hon. I. L. Endress, Dansville, Livingston. 

Adolphus Morse, Bochester, Monroe. 
8th. — Harry "Wilson, Batavia, Genesee. 

Dan. H. Cole, Albion, Orleans. 



The State Committee organized 4th June, 1 862 r 

CHAIRMAN AND TREASURER : 

George- Opdyke. 

secretaries : 

Thomas B. Carroll, 373 Broadway, Albany, 
John Austin Stevens, Jr., 813 Broadway, ISTew York. 

executive COMMITTEE: 

George Opdyke, I^ew York. 

Thomas B. Carroll, Albany. 

Isaac L. Endress, Livingston. 

LIarry "Wilson, Genesee. 

Alexander Davidson, Rockland. 

John Austin Stevens, Jr., JSTew York. 

headquarters : 

Hall of the Loyal National League, 813 Broadway, 
New York. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



012 026 647 J 

STATE COMMITTEE 



JUDICIAL DISTRICTS: 

1st. — Geoege Opdyke, IS^ew York. 

James T. Brady, " 

2d. — Alexander Davidson, Haverstra"sv, Eockland. 

J. jS^odyne, Brooklyn, Kings. 
3d. — Thomas B. Carroll, Troy, Kensselaer. 

John C. IN^ewkirk, Hudson, Columbia. 
4th. — John F. Havens, Canton, St. Lawrence. 

Darius Y. Berry, Fonda, Montgomery. 
5tli. — H. IT. Sherman, IS'ew Hartford, Oneida. 

Edward S. Lansing, Watertown, JeiFerson. 
6tli. — Abraham Lawrence, Havana, Sclmyler. 

Hon. Ezra Cornell, Itliaca, Tompkins. 
Ttli.— Hon. I. L. Endeess, Dansville, Livingston. 

Adolphus Morse, Eochester, Monroe. 
Stli. — Harry Wilson, Batavia, Genesee. 

Dan. H. Cole, Albion, Orleans. 



The State Committee organized 4th June, 1862: 
CHAIRMAN AND TREASURER: 

George Opdyke, 

SECRETARIES : 
Thomas B. Carroll, 373 Broadway, Albany. 
John Austin Stevens, Jr., 813 Broadway, I*^ew York. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE : 

George Opdyke, New York, 

Thomas B. Carroll, Albany. 

Isaac I^. Endress, Livingston. 

Harry AYilson, Genesee. 

Alexander Davidson, Rockland. 

John Austin Stevens, Jr., New York. 

HEADQUARTERS : 

Hall of the Loyal National League, 813 Broadway, 

New York. 



